Branches of Life

I was tossed out of the rift and into a forest, the ground damp, with the smell of rain in the air. Harmony inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, finding peace being in nature. "I'm so glad I don't have to wear these horrid things yet," she muttered shaking her sneakers. I looked down at my shoes frowning. I had definitely worn the wrong shoes for a hike through a damp forest.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Koa murmured, scanning our surroundings.

A look of dismay crossed Harmony's face. "What's that supposed to mean? The safe house is only a mile away."

Each major city in the human realm had a "safe house" for Mythics to find supplies. They also had portals connecting them, for those of us who couldn't create them ourselves.

Koa shared a glance with Starling before answering. "It is, but we're not going to the safe house." Not elaborating anymore, he walked down a path, with Starling trailing close behind him.

Harmony, Ari, and I gave each other a what the fuck look. "I'm getting real fucking sick of him thinking he's in charge, and that we'll just blindly follow him around like she does," Ander growled, making a quick dig at Starling.

'I will scout the forest and watch for any trouble,' Rowan said, appearing next to me before taking off into the trees.

Harmony sighed, staring at the path Koa and Starling took. "We should probably catch up, I have little doubt that Koa would have no problem leaving us behind. I think he'd like nothing more."

"Let him," Ander growled, letting his anger overshadow reasonable thought.

"So we can look like unreliable cowards, who can't keep their word? Yeah, that's a great idea, I can't believe I didn't think of it first," I practically growled, annoyed at not only Koa and Starling but Ander as well. I took a deep breath and decided it was best to make a compromise. "We'll go along with them for now, and once we find out what the actual mission is, we'll reevaluate." My socks squelched with the water from the fountain, not helping my shitty mood. "Dammit! I fucking hate whoever built that damn fountain."

"Oh, right." Harmony waved a hand towards our feet, and the water evaporated.

Ari gestured towards the path. "Alright, let's go and see if the douchebag has actually ditched us, shall we?"

Ander stayed at the back of the group as we followed Starling and Koa's scents through the uneven forest. His head swiveled side to side, looking and listening for any possible threats. All seemed quiet, with nothing out of the usual, but sometimes it was the quiet and peaceful moments that you had to be the most wary of.

Not long after, a crack of thunder echoed through the air, followed by a downpour of rain. Ari groaned while I swore. None of us were dressed for this kind of weather. Laughing lightly, Harmony raised her hand and the rain bent around us. Almost like we were in a bubble.

"Have I ever told you, how much I love you?" I chuckled, watching the water bend around us in amazement.

Harmony tilted her head to the side in contemplation. "I think the last time, was when I saved your asses from the sinking sand." Her contagious laugh had me chuckling along with her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about our trip to the jungle, good times," Ari said with a slightly disturbing cackle, while I shook my head. Even though she was three years older than me, she was always the one getting us in trouble. And like the sucker I was, I followed her every time.

We finally caught up with Koa and Starling at the edge of the forest. The sounds of cars, humans, and noises from the city could be heard, but not yet seen through the trees towering over us.

Did these two fucking sprint here? They both gave the appearance of having been here a while, waiting on us. A petty glee filled my body when I noticed that the rain hadn't spared them. That was until I looked over at Koa, and saw the wet strands of his dark hair drip water down his chiseled face. The now dark gray shirt clung to his torso, showing the outline of his pecs and six-pack. Desire shot through me, pulsing in my core.

My hand twitched at my side. The urge to run my hands up his stomach, chest, and into his hair, was overwhelming. As was the growing need to lick the trail of water cutting a path down his sharp cheekbones.

His scent made its way to me, and I was barely able to suppress my groan. Somehow his scent smelled stronger and even more delicious. Almost like he could sense my intense stab of desire, Koa's eyes snapped to mine. Tension rose between us, as I struggled to not only tamp down my reaction but also hide it. I don't know if I succeeded, it felt like his stare could see into my very soul. When he looked away a few seconds later, the growing tightnesses in my chest and stomach eased, and my breathing felt easier.

Taking mercy on Starling and Koa, Harmony dried them off with a wave of her hand. Making me feel a warring combination of relief and disappointment. Shaking off the confusing feelings, I asked, "Are you going to tell us, what the fuck is going on?"

Koa lifted his face to the night sky—now no longer raining—exhaling noisily. Starling was the one to answer my question. "We'll tell you everything you need to know, but not here. I know a pub that's not too far from here, we can eat and talk. Please, just trust us for now." There wasn't a command in her tone, like with Koa, it was almost a pleading note.

This was our best shot at getting answers from these two. Answers we should've already had. "Fine, but you better start explaining shit, otherwise I'm out," I promised, glancing between the two as I jabbed my pointer finger at them.

Staring nodded with a tight-lipped smile, more like a grimace. With that out of the way, we broke through the tree line and made our way into human civilization. The sounds of which were way louder than any of our cities or towns.

* * * * * * * *

Over ten minutes later, we entered a medium-sized pub. With a bar lining a wall, and booths lining the others. Small tables were scattered throughout the room, half of them filled with patrons. A small stage sat in the back left corner, with a microphone along with a stereo off to the side. Standing on the stage, was a couple of tipsy girls singing karaoke. Badly. It was times like these, that made me hate my enhanced hearing.

We grabbed a booth in the back corner, as far away from the chattering humans as we could get. It had taken years of training to block out all noises, such as other conversations. Particularly humans who seemed to always be on the verge of yelling.

I was squeezed between Ari and Ander on one side of the booth. While Harmony was between the other two. Ander and Koa both sat on the outer edges of the booth. Big shocker.

An older waitress, probably in her early forties, came to our table and handed out menus while asking for our drink orders. She told us her name, one I immediately forgot, and left to get our drinks.

"I thought she was supposed to heavily flirt with you two." I gestured between Ander and Koa. "All the while, blatantly ignoring the rest of us, to the point where one you would have to order for us."

"Why the fuck would you think that?" Ander laughed in surprise, softening the hard edges of his face.

"Uh, because in the movies, whenever there is a group of supernatural beings at a restaurant, the waitress always obnoxiously flirts with the guys, and acts like a bitch to the girls. Usually, one girl is ready to rip the bitch's head off, since she's in denial about her feelings for one of the guys."

Koa lazily reclined on the bench, resting his arm along the top of the back. A smug smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, making my stomach knot. "You're saying you have hidden feelings for one of us?"

I rolled my eyes muttering, "In your dreams." All the while, mentally slapping myself for being so stupid and careless with my words. Obviously, that scenario didn't apply here.

Ander propped his elbows on the table and dropped his head into his hands. Having been around us enough to know where this conversation was headed. "You watch way too much human television."

Harmony nodded, adding, "It's also in their books. Sometimes, it'll be just a guy and a girl, and she'll still pull that stunt."

I leaned forward in my seat, resting my arms on the table, more animated than I was before. "Yeah, what's up with that? Most people would assume they're on a date, but not her."

"With the way they're typically depicted, she knows, but she's such a bitch that she doesn't care," Starling said rolling her eyes, and adjusting in her seat so her back was against the wall. Surprising the hell out of me, not only by her speaking again but that she read or watched movies.

"Absolutely," Ari said, nodding in agreement. "My favorite is when he completely ignores her advances.

Harmony made an excited noise as she bounced in her seat, bumping into Koa in the process. He shot her a disgruntled glare, one she didn't notice. "Or when he doesn't even look at the waitress, and just stares at the main character the whole time."

"You know what I don't like?" Starling drummed her fingers on the wooden table. "Is when, he flirts back with the waitress, especially if he's doing it to make the girl jealous."

Ari tilted her head from side to side. "It depends on how the scene plays out. I'm okay with the flirting, if it makes the girl so mad, that she finally pulls her head out of her ass and admits she has feelings for the guy." A chorus of yeses erupted, and for the first time today, Ander and Koa were on the same page. Sharing exasperated looks that said, I can't believe I have to sit here and listen to this.

The waitress returned with a tray of drinks balanced on her hand, passing them out without hesitation. "I've never been so happy to see a drink before," Ander muttered. I snorted and Ander shot me a dark look.

As the waitress placed the drinks in front of us, we quickly scanned our menus. Once we ordered our food, she told us to give her a shout if we needed anything before leaving. The rest of us looked at Starling and Koa expectantly.

Koa waved his hand at Starling, still leaning back in his seat. She rolled her eyes and dropped her head back against the back of the booth. After a moment she sat up straight, shifting forward as she scanned her focus over each of us. "So, we all know the big rule: don't draw human's attention to our kind. And we know that the necromancers did the exact opposite all those years ago. Thus, creating a legacy that humans still talk about to this day."

"We already learned all of this shit in our lessons growing up. Stop stalling and tell us why we're here," I cut in impatiently, annoyed at the fact that she was giving us a history lesson like we were idiots.

She pinned me with a hard stare. "Of course, you know the history, as we all do, but there's one important detail that has always been glossed over: why aren't the stories more recent?"

My shoulders hit the vinyl booth as I slumped back, unable to process the question. "What the hell are you talking about? There's a ton of shows, movies, and books about them," Ari pointed out with a frown, not tongue-tied like me.

Starling closed her eyes for a brief moment, releasing a slow exhale. "Yes, but they are works of fiction and tend to be way off base with their characteristics. The creators don't believe they are real, and think they are basing them off legends and myths."

"It's easy for vampires to avoid human detection as long as they are careful and stay out of the sun. Demons can too if they use illusion spells," I said slowly, working it out in my head, staring down at my hands as I spoke. In my peripheral vision, Starling nodded encouragingly. "But most of the other creatures can't. Not unless they live somewhere remote."

"Exactly! But no one wants to acknowledge this," Starling said, eagerly leaning her forearms on the table.

"Why not?" Harmony asked, her face creased into a pinched frown.

"Well, because of the implications."

"Talk to us like we're stupid because I'm not picking up what you're putting down." Ari sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. If Starling didn't stop talking in riddles soon, she was going to get her ass beat.

Starling's focus drifted down to her hands, lacing and unlacing them. "There are two conclusions to be drawn. The first is the better option and therefore more widely accepted. The belief is that most of the creatures are extinct, either by natural selection or were hunted into extinction. It's easy to see the appeal of wanting this to be the truth."

I nodded slowly, liking the way that theory sounded, thinking we should just stop here and not discuss the next option. Which no doubt would be one I didn't like.

She paused, taking a deep breath, preparing herself for her next words. "The second is that they somehow have found a way to access another realm, and have been hiding there. Able to move between that realm and this one."

Yep. I was right. I fucking hated option two.