Love is nothing.

I'd rather not go into detail about such matters, though I'm sure you would enjoy my squirming. We sit in silence, both remembering. Darren's face is a mask as he stares ahead. I shift in the fairly uncomfortable seat as the car sputters to a stop. I look at Darren. He rubs the back of his neck hesitantly.
"You want to stay here, don't you?" He murmurs.
"Only a little." I confess, looking at the sweet little house Darren had supposedly lived in.
"The landowner rents this to me, free of charge." He grins toothily,
"Ah, dare I ask why?"
"I did her a few favors."
"What kind of favors?"
"Y'know, for a middle aged woman, she sure can move." he says thoughtfully,
"Never mind. I can guess." I grumble, making my way up the steps.

The inside is the same. Overstuffed couch, dining table with that really nice white cloth that we ruined newly washed and laid nearly over the surface, the relatively small tv on. I look at Darren. He shrugs.
"People come and go." I walk up the carpeted staircase, pictures of Darren and various people lining the walls. He doesn't change in any of them, same cocky half smile, his blue gray eyes alight with a joke no one else is aware of, same mop of curly brown hair that liked to reach his eyes. He's surrounded by beautiful people in beautiful places. And at the end, there's me and him, hand in hand, my head on his shoulder, looking ridiculously happy. I shake my head and walk into the bedroom at the end of the hall, where I find a pair of girls sleeping in Darren's bed. One sits up and stretches lazily, her hazel eyes examining me, unimpressed. The other follows suit with a large yawn and a catlike stretch. Her identical look matches her sister's.

"Who are you?" one asks in an overly innocent voice.
"The better question is, who are you?" I say, struggling to find my voice. I hear footsteps behind me. Darren looks over my shoulder.
"I see you've met the twins. Hello Violet, Hazel."
"Good morning Darry." the other one replies,
"The twins?"
"My charges."

 

"Charges?"
"Darren is our instructor." One says rather smugly,
"Instructor?" I look at Darren questioningly.
"They're new blood. Died at the exact same time. Were sixteen at the time. They're hunters."
"Yes. We must be taught how to control and use such powers." The other one murmurs, her voice gentle and slightly timid.
"Two sixteen year old girls you're supposed to be training are in your bed."
"Well...er...I'm not home much, so they take care of the place."
"Why your bed? Why not one here, one in the guest bedroom?"
"Ah, you see, they can't sleep if they're alone, and my bed is bigger."
"...I see."
"Mr. Walsh is a very good instructor." the quieter one says shyly,
"Hazel, I told you; you can call me Darren."
"Oh, er, Darren." she murmurs, blushing slightly,
"You haven't answered our question yet." Violet says brazenly,
"Girls," Darren puts a hand on my shoulder, "This is Fae. She's my...er..."
"She's your mate?" Hazel's voice is high, her blush bright,
"Er..." Darren stumbles over his words. Darren never stumbles over his words. "I mean, I don't think, I mean no but I guess technically—I don't know." Darren shrugs.
"She doesn't think so." Violet's voice is cool, almost cold.
"No, no we're not. It was a faulty love potion that saved me." I state firmly, "Nothing more. I'm a new blood."
"Very very new." Hazel mutters, examining my face, "Why, she returned just last night!"
"...yeah."
"She was your sacrifice?"
"Yeah..."
"...You did that with her!" Hazel squeaks,
"That's where you were." Violet murmurs, "We were wondering. You missed a lesson."
"Yeah. I'll make it up to you two."
Mate? Mate like partner? Is that what this bond nonsense is all about? That isn't happening again.
"Oh, but it will." Hazel says dreamily, "You will, and your offspring will be the most delightfully chaotic happening since the conjuring of the atomic bomb."

 

Atomic bomb. The words echo hollowly in my mind.
"Hazel? Darren, could this be..." Violet says, alarmed.
"No." Darren snorts, "Clairvoyance has never been proven to be one hundred percent, nor do I think Hazel has it."
"Then what...?"
"Innemerable amounts of probabilities, she could just be having a nervous breakdown, or something has gone wrong with her psyche where she just passes out and blabbers nonsense..."
"What are we talking about?" Hazel asks, puzzled.
"Nothing at all." Darren grumbles,
"You two need to go get dressed." I intervene.
"...Oh." Darren blinks and looks them up and down. Hazel's whole body turns a rosy shade of pink it seems as he examines her, not very closely, I might add. They're both in basically nothing except their underwear. Violet is unafraid to be nearly naked in front of her superior.
"Out with you two." I usher them out, "So they live with you?" I ask Darren immediately after they're gone,
"Basically." he shrugs and flops down onto the bed.
"So they're like your daughters?" he sputters indignantly, "I'm too young to be the father of two sixteen year old girls! I prefer younger siblings."
"Do you take care of their needs?"
"Well, of course I do! Who else would?"
"Maybe the pack?"
"No way. They're my responsibility." he huffs,
"You love them, don't you?"
"Love! You think I love them? They're my responsibilities! Why would I love responsibilities?!"
"Because that's what parents do." I reason, "And in this time and place, your their father figure, an instructor of sorts."
"So? That doesn't mean I love them." he grumbles,
"You wouldn't care if they lived or died?"
"Well of course I would..."
"You wouldn't care if one of them got hurt?"
"Well, no, I would care,"
"Would you die for them?"
"Well since I put so much time and effort into teaching them..."
"You love your daughters."
"My little sisters."

 

"I do hate how you assume." Darren runs a hand through his hair.
"Well, I see the way you look at them."
"I look at them normally!"
"No, no you don't." I mutter. He turns is curious eyes on me,
"How do I look at them?"
"It reminds me of how my dad looks at me."
"...Oh. I can barely remember my parents." His brow furrows, "I can't even remember their faces..." his look is one of dismay.
"How can you not?"
"I remember walking out on them on Thanksgiving, the whole family. They were trying to set some girl up with me. I wasn't having it, I enjoyed my independence. Then, I think I was walking and someone mugged me. I probably died right then and there because I don't remember anything else..." He traces the scar on his neck. "The guy, the guy who killed me, I tracked him down, and he was my first sacrifice." I blink, surprised by my lack of horror. He got what he deserved.
"Yes, yes he did."
"How does this whole sacrifice thing work anyhow?"
"Brewers know how to make a suplement for us to use. People are for the Purebloods. All those missing persons reports are usually our work. Except the children. It's a strict rule that we do not pick off the young or the old. Too easy. Purebloods can only go a certain amount of time without the real stuff before becoming unstable and go on killing sprees. New bloods too." He looks directly at me. I swallow hard, I was not looking forward to eating the essence of a person.
"It gets easier. Every person we choose we think will go to the Other. You're very rare. In fact, you're the first one we've experienced."
"Are there other packs like you guys?"
"Yes. There are quite a few around the world."
"Do you know any others nearby?"
"No, this is our territory. No one comes close enough. Make no mistake, we are not a society. Every man for himself. The only time we'd ever meet is if one clan is in some sort of trouble, and they call for mercenaries, which isn't very often, if you can imagine. All of us are very skilled fighters." Skilled fighters? I don't fit that description.
"...most of us anyways." He smiles at me, and I roll my eyes. Right, the mind reading thing. He nods in response. Hazel and Violet walk in, arm and arm, looking cheerful and clean.
"Okay, so, we were here for Fae's things." I look at him pleadingly, do I have to go back? He nods at me. You've already been introduced. It would be a great offense if you didn't become a member of the clan. Hazel and Violet, on the other hand, have never been to the den, they are still anonymous. Darren sends the message straight into my brain, making me slighlt dizzy.
"Oh..." Hazel looks disappointed.
"But I suppose, if Fae doesn't mind, we can catch up on your lessons."
"I don't mind." I smile reassuringly at Hazel. She shoots me a look of thanks. Violet looks happy too, but she scowls at me. I raise an eyebrow, but I don't comment.
"Right, now let's go to the training room, Fae, you can do whatever you want." He tosses the keys to his car and my cellphone to me. He trusts me already? He stops in his tracks. Hazel and Violet are already there, wherever there is. He turns around, "You've given me no reason to distrust you, so yes, I trust you. Don't ruin it." He says calmly, and then turns to follow Hazel and Violet. "Pack your things." He adds, not looking back.

 

My curiosity is murderous. I snoop carelessly into his things as I often did, unbeknownst to him. The bag of things I'd not yet unpacked were here. I'd only slept in his bed once, and he wasn't even there when I woke up. Most of my stuff was still unpacked. What little I had brought out I stuffed back into their bags. Living in a place full of strangers, and the only person I knew literally killed me.
"Make the best of a bad situation." my dad had always told me. Dad. I did what my instinct told me to do, and I called my dad.
"Karen?" I preferred my middle name to my first name, and my dad knew that. He called me that when I was in trouble.
"Daddy." I murmur, "Why haven't you called? Your mother and I have been worried. Molly can't get ahold of you..." Molly is my younger sister, "We were about to drive up and check on you!"
"I'm fine dad. Everything's going fine. I just...couldn't call. I...I quit school daddy."
Silence on the other line. "You did what! Do you realize how much your tuition...Karen, do you understand..."
"Yes, I understand."
"What the hell is going on with you?!"
"I'm sorry daddy..."
"What the hell are you doing?" Violet practically yells.
"Uh, I gotta go."
"Karen-"
I hang up quickly, "What do you want, Violet?"
"Who the hell was that?"
"What's it to you?"
"You aren't supposed to use cell phones!"
"Wh-"
"New blood." An icy voice says from the window. We both freeze. Violet's eyes glaze with terror.
"So he is harboring more of them." A voice mutters, a very familiar voice. I turn around.
"Molly?" then, everything goes black.