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I picked the dagger back up and looked at it. I hadn't paid it much attention when Damien had given it to me, I'd been too focused on the horribleness of the situation. Now I looked at it. It was plain, with no markings on it, no nothing. I had no idea where he'd gotten the thing, but it was simple in design.
"Ariel," one of the twins called and I jumped, but thankfully didn't drop the dagger or cut myself again.
I stood up quickly and turned to face the house. I hid the dagger behind my back, keeping it out of sight.
Addison watched me with cool, bright blue eyes. They burned with curiosity but he didn't ask the questions I knew he so badly wanted to. I appreciated it.
I slipped the dagger into my back pocket and hoped to all that was holy that I didn't cut myself again.
"I'm coming," I told Addison, as I made my way back through the glass covered grass.
"It makes me uncomfortable having you out here all by yourself," he muttered uneasily. "Not after what happened back here. Damien told us they were trying to drag Dash off into the woods. We can't have the same thing happening to you."
I understood his reasoning, it was sweet even, but the thought that they'd never leave me alone again certainly didn't fill me with joy.
"I thought you guys got them all at the shop?" I asked.
We walked back around the side of the house shoulder to shoulder. He reached out and took hold of my hand.
"What the—" He started as he dropped my hand and spun to face me. He lifted my hand and glared down at it. "Why are you bleeding, Ariel?"
Huh. I had forgotten I was bleeding.
"I must have nicked it on a piece of glass," I lied, and I didn't even know why it had come out of my mouth. For whatever reason, I didn't want them to know about the dagger. I didn't want them to take it away from me.
"Shit," he said. "We need to get you inside and bandaged up."
"It's fine. Just needs a band aid."
I didn't even really feel it anymore. It had stung at first, but now there was just nothing.
Addison looked at me like I was crazy. He took ahold of my wrist and very gently led me around the house and inside. I followed along behind him without protest. He went up the stairs and into the bathroom, pulling me along behind him.
I had to reach up and cover my nose and my mouth because the smell inside the cottage was so bad it made my eyes sting.
He flipped the lid shut on the toilet and forced me to sit down on it. Again, I went without protest.
He rooted around through the bathroom closet and came out with a medical kit. All this nonsense over just needing a band aid.
Addison carefully cleaned my cut and had to wrap two band aids around it, and I didn't miss the look he gave me when he wrapped that second band aid around my finger.
I looked down at my band aid and giggled. They were black and covered in bright orange pumpkins.
"These are so Dash," I said through my giggles. I sobered immediately as I looked around the bathroom, suddenly at a loss for words. Little touches of Dash were everywhere. From the orange colored washcloths to the black rug that made some joke about vampires.
Leaving this place sucked so bad, I hated it.
"It's going to be fine," Addison murmured as he crouched down beside me. His finger came to my chin and he used it to tip my face up toward his. "Everything will work out how it's supposed to. You'll see. If this is where you and Dash are really meant to be, then the house will get fixed up just as it was and the both of you will move back in here."
I jerked back away from him. "What do you mean by that? Of course, we're going to move back in here after it's all fixed up again. Why wouldn't we?"
He stood up and backed away with his hands in the air, palms facing me in a gesture that screamed he meant no harm.
"You can live wherever you want to live, pretty girl," he promised as he backed out of the doorway. "My twin and I will be in Dash's room packing up some of his things for him. We put suitcases up on your bed for you. Holler if you need anything."
And then he was gone and I was left alone in the bathroom staring down at the Halloween band aids that covered my hand.
I left the bathroom and moved on sluggish limbs to my bedroom. There were three very large suitcases sitting on my bed waiting for me, just like he'd promised. There was a time when all of my belongings would have fit in less than one of those suitcases. Now, I had too much stuff to fit in all three.
