Exton

Raina feels her breath leave her as she takes in the scene in front of her. Why didnt he tell me? I thought we were supposed to be open with each other... and Gareth of all people....

She closes the door, what she has seen feels burned onto her eyes. Nick and Gareth, naked, arms and legs entwined. Gareth obviously aroused... She shakes her head, not wanting to believe it, she feels betrayed, hurt, but unable to really give voice as to why. Tears start to gather and she viciously chokes them back. NO... no more tears, not for him, not for anyone. I should have known, should have seen it coming....

She goes downstairs to the bar and asks Monty for a bottle of tequila. He brings the bottle with two shot glasses. Monty wonders at the haunted look in her eyes as she picks up only one glass with the tequila and heads to a booth.

Raina starts to drink, shot after shot, eyes fixed, staring straight ahead. Her only thought to make herself numb in the quickest way possible. Either this or I might drive my bike off a cliff, but after 700 years I doubt that will work....

Monty keeps an eye on her, concern etched on his face. When he sees Erik come in, he waves him over to the bar. “Hey, something is really wrong with your sister. She has a third of that bottle down and its only been a few minutes...”

Cassie is sitting at the bar, watching and wondering what happened. She seemed so happy just a little while ago....

Erik walks over to Raina and sits across from her. Damn, she looks like shes seen a *vondur andi...

“Hey sis, maybe you should slow this down a bit. That bottle isnt going to last very long at this rate...Monty needs to sell some, gonna be hard for him to do if you drink it all...”

Raina looks at Erik, her eyes dark and shadowed with pain. “Leave me alone, I dont want to think any more...”

Nodding, Erik tells her “All right. I can remember feeling like that. But whats happened? I cant see you doing this over a fight or anything like that. Whats wrong? Did something happen to Nick?”

A sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob escapes from Rainas mouth. “You might say that. Something that he didnt feel the need to let me in on. So I am going to drink until I cant god damn see that picture in my mind. Just let me be, please.”

Raina is almost begging, making Erik realize that whatever she was trying to get out of her mind was causing her significant pain. She digs in her pocket and pulls a key ring. “Here, the keys to my bike. I promise I wont go anywhere, I just want to get drunk. Stinking, stumbling, forgetting everything and everyone type drunk. You can haul my ass up to my room when I cant drink any more.”

Erik takes the keys and takes her hand, “I'm here if you need me. And I'll make sure nothing happens...”

His eyes are hard as diamond. And if Nick comes down here, we're going to have words....


*evil spirit