Chronicles of Eden - Act VI (31 page)

“She scared us all,” he agreed. “But I’m glad she’s getting better. I was really worried about her.”

Specca and Luna sat down next to him while the group watched Triska sleeping, with Alyssa gently brushing the teen’s hair and Falla fanning the girl again with her wings.

“We all were,” Specca added. “But she’s going to be alright. She has a wonderful family watching over her.”

“Yeah, she does,” Alyssa said glancing around at the other girls. Luna and Falla lowered their heads with bashful smiles while Pip giggled and flew up in the air before landing down and lying on Triska’s belly to hug her. Kroanette smiled in relief as she leaned to the side against the doorframe then glanced to Clover as the elf was just sitting back against the wall and looking down with a dull gaze. Clover then noticed Kroanette watching her before seeing the rest of the group also having their eyes on her.

“Let’s just get something clear here,” she stated while looking down to avoid eye contact with the group. “I only helped out so I can go home. You’re my ride, that’s it.”

“We’re still thankful you did, Clover,” Daniel said gratefully. “Whatever your reasons, you helped Triska out twice today, something I’m not going to forget.”

Clover rolled her eyes and got up from her bed with a quiet grumble, taking a moment to straighten out her skirt before walking over to the entryway and peering outside at the night sky above.

“We’re not going to Stonegate anymore, are we?” she questioned with a glance back at the others.

“Not tonight,” Alyssa said looking down to Triska. “At least not until she gets better. I want to find Ember, I do, but I don’t want to leave her side when she’s like this. She wouldn’t let me be alone when I was down, so I won’t let her be alone either.”

“It’s already late,” Daniel agreed with a nod. “We’ll rest here for the night again and wait to see how she’s feeling in the morning.”

“Is that alright with you, Clover?” Kroanette asked the elf.

“It’s for the best,” Clover dryly replied as she gazed around at the landscape before them. “Alyssa shouldn’t go to Stonegate now, I agree with that.”

“You agree with it?” Specca curiously asked.

“Of course. Stonegate isn’t a place for inexperienced monsters to travel to at night. They’d chew her up and spit her out if she even looked at the late night dwellers the wrong way.”

“Thank you for both supporting my feelings and believing in my ability to defend myself,” Alyssa flatly retorted with a dull stare at the elf. Daniel raised a hand to quiet her while watching Clover with a knowing smile.

“Clover, are you saying that even if Alyssa wanted to go to Stonegate tonight you wouldn’t take her?” he asked, with the girls turning to him curiously as Clover glanced back while crossing her arms.

“Yeah, I just said that,” Clover snapped.

“So you’re protecting her.” Clover turned her eye to Alyssa for a moment then back to Daniel as he smirked at her. “You could easily go into that place, I have no doubts you can take care of yourself in that sort of hostile environment, but you wouldn’t take the chance of Alyssa getting hurt when it’s more dangerous there at night.”

“What are you getting at?”

“You saved Kroanette when she was in trouble,” Daniel said standing up and with all eyes turning to the elf. “You saved Pip when she was in danger, you not only chased after Triska to bring her back after she was taken by that demon but also went out again to bring her medicine, and now you’re not taking Alyssa to Stonegate tonight because you know it would be too dangerous for her there at this hour.”

“So?” Clover scoffed while looking away.

“You’re very protective of those you claim to not like,” Daniel accused as he walked towards her. Clover turned to face him with a scowl as he approached her with an amused smile. “In fact I even remember you drawing your arrow on that succubus in order to
defend
Triska. If this is how you treat those who anger you or run your patience I’d be very interested to see how you treat those you call your friends.”

Clover growled with gritted teeth and lowered her head, hands clenching as she kept her arms crossed and held close to her. The girls exchanged curious glances with one another then looked at the elf again as she didn’t reply to Daniel’s statement.

“We can see that you’re still hurting from what happened to you,” Daniel gently said while resting a hand on her shoulder. Clover slowly looked up to him with a troubled frown as he smiled kindly at her. “But I can also see you’re not as mean as you try to act all the time. There is a kindhearted girl in you, and I hope for your sake that you choose not to hide her inside forever. You wouldn’t be so alone in the world if you did.”

Clover glanced to his hand then to him while showing a dull expression as she lowered her hands to her sides.

“Like I said before,” Kroanette added with a hopeful smile. “You don’t have to be alone, Clover. We could be your friends if you would only let us.”

Everyone watched as Clover closed her eyes for a moment, taking a quiet breath before she grabbed Daniel’s shoulders and kicked straight up between his legs. Daniel yelped in pain before dropping to the ground while all the girls jumped in surprise and Clover set her hands at her hips with a harsh scowl at the whimpering boy on the floor.

“I don’t need your damn sympathy!” Clover shouted out. “I saved your friends because I’m not some Darker One like you all keep claiming me to be, that’s all! And for the record I didn’t do any of that to be a part of what you call a family, I don’t want to have sex with your mates or even you for that matter which is what being in your family obviously entails, so don’t start thinking I want a piece of that because I sure as fuck don’t!”

Daniel merely squeaked something while holding his hands down between his legs and remaining face first on the floor, much to his relief as he felt as though a few tears of pain were coming from his eyes while he was reeling from the elf’s painful response to him.

“Daniel!” Specca cried out as she and Luna quickly raced over and knelt down beside him.

“Are you alright?” Luna asked as she shook him by the shoulder, only getting another whine from him as he shakily nodded.

“Clover!” Alyssa yelled out while she, Squeak, and Falla glared at the elf.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that you aided Triska as you have…” Specca growled at Clover with anger.

“Why must you keep doing that to him?” Kroanette demanded while watching Daniel whimpering in pain on the floor.

“He’s the one who got all handsy with me,” Clover retorted as she looked away with a stubborn grunt.

“He was trying to be nice to you!” Alyssa shouted at the elf. “He didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Whatever,” Clover scoffed as she walked over and picked up her bow and quiver, holstering the container behind her then her bow around her shoulder before she made her way towards the entryway.

“Where are you going?” Luna asked while she and Specca slowly helped Daniel up by an arm each.

“You keep bitching about me doing archery in the caravan, don’t you?” Clover answered with a glance at the girls. “So I’m going to go outside first. You’re welcome.”

“We’re
welcome
?” Falla questioned with disbelief. “You kicked our mate in the crotch and we’re
welcome
?”

“That’s what I said,” Clover replied before she left the cabin.

“Why must you keep pushing everyone away from you?” Kroanette asked with exasperation as Clover hopped down from the ride and started walking away towards where she had been firing her arrows the night before.

Specca and Luna helped Daniel to his feet, the boy forcing a smile the best he could as he quickly wiped away his tears in fear the girls might see them.

“Okay, I think we’ve established she doesn’t like to be touched by anyone,” he reasoned before slowly walking over and sitting down on the couch with the two girls.

“Just when I start to think she’s not such a demon she always reminds me otherwise,” Specca derided with a fleeting glance of ire towards the entryway.

“Was bringing her with us the right thing to do?” Luna asked with concern as she saw Daniel slowly catching his breath and not shedding any tears now.

“Yes, taking her with us was the right decision,” Daniel agreed, taking one final slow breath then smirking towards the entryway where Kroanette was watching him curiously. “She is a kindhearted girl after all.”

“She kicked you in the crotch,” Falla pointed out. “Multiple times now.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Daniel said with a weak chuckle. “But she’s also been protective of all of us, even though she doesn’t want it to be seen that way. She may have a tough exterior but she’s not a demon inside. She’s just dealing with her anger the only way she knows how to. I actually feel sorry for her knowing what she’s going through.”

“Even so,” Kroanette spoke while leaning to the side against the doorframe. “As grateful as I am for her helping us as she has I do wish she would let her anger go. I agree there is a kindhearted girl deep down inside her.
Deep down
inside her.”

Daniel nodded in agreement to that before turning his sights over to Triska, with the other girls doing the same and watching as she was now sleeping more peacefully and not breathing so heavily. Squeak continued to hold her hand with a small smile as she saw Triska slowly move her head slightly in her sleep.

“I think she’s getting better,” Alyssa announced with relief as she felt Triska’s forehead. “Her fever is going down more.”

“Good, I can stop doing this then,” Falla said with a weak smile as she stopped flapping her wings and rubbed her shoulder. “I didn’t want to say anything but I was starting to get cramps from doing that so much.”

“Thank goodness she’s alright,” Specca sighed with relief before resting her head on Daniel’s shoulder. “That was a frightful evening.”

“Is she going to be okay now?” Luna asked worriedly.

“I’d say she is,” Alyssa said with a nod before glancing over to Specca with a raised eyebrow. “But Specca isn’t going to be.”

“What?” Specca said with a jump.

“I think you were right, this was all
your
fault with the food you made her this morning,” Alyssa accused with hands set at her hips. “What the hell did you do anyway? She’s fed us horrible food herself dozens of times but nothing that made us deathly ill.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened!” Specca pleaded with her hands up defensively. “I made her dish the same as everyone else’s, and nobody else got sick. I don’t understand what I did wrong.”

“You probably weren’t paying attention with making hers while you were busy using your tail on my sister,” Falla dryly mentioned.

Specca jumped with a squeak and a nervous smile on her face, eyes going down to the floor before slowly turning to Luna as the butterfly girl was watching her with a curious smile.

“That was an accident, I assure you,” Specca shakily implored.

“I’ve heard enough,” Alyssa declared while crossing her arms. “You were daydreaming about Luna and you didn’t make Triska’s food right. Honestly, Specca, how could you be so careless like that?”

“I wasn’t daydreaming about her!”

“I wouldn’t mind if you were,” Luna said with a shrug. Specca merely stared at her with a stunned expression and stammered something while Daniel glanced between the two and watched both girls blushing more.

“I think a bit of punishment here is an order,” Alyssa stated, with Specca turning to her with a squeak as the witch gave her a stern smile with softly glowing eyes for a moment. “After all you made Triska sick, that’s very naughty in my book.”

“No… please…” Specca breathed out as she quickly held her hands down over her rear cheeks. “You wouldn’t, not again.”

“What are you going to do to her?” Pip asked as she leaned down over the edge of Alyssa’s hat, looking at the witch upside-down with a curious smile.

“She already knows,” Alyssa said with a twitch of her eyebrow.

“You’re going to shove those roots up her ass again, aren’t you?” Falla plainly asked.

“That’s a pretty big punishment,” Luna mentioned while holding her hands over her own rear.

“No!” Specca cried out as she clung to Daniel for safety. “Please, Daniel! Don’t let her do that to me again! I can’t handle it, I can’t! I’m sorry for making Triska sick, I really am! Please save me, Daniel!”

Daniel held the frightened nixie close with an amused smile while the other girls giggled at seeing her clinging to him for dear life.

“Alyssa,” he said with a glance at the witch. “Don’t scare her like this. I’m sure it was just a simple mistake, she didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“But look what she did to Triska,” Alyssa pouted while pointing to her sick friend. “She can’t get away with that, that’s not fair. She needs to be taught a lesson for what she did.”

“You can spank me then, Daniel,” Specca quickly insisted with a nervous smile at him. “Really, you can punish me all night if you wish, I’ll gladly accept that for what I did to Triska, wouldn’t that be fair? Please? You can do it right now, I insist.”

“I’m sure that’ll teach her a lesson,” Falla dryly remarked.

“If she’s going to get punished then I should too,” Luna softly said while looking down timidly. “She was too busy thinking about me and got distracted, I’m to blame for that.”

“What?” Alyssa questioned. “You’re not to blame for any of this. Specca’s the one who-”

“Please, Daniel!” Luna begged as she grabbed onto him as well. “I don’t want Specca to suffer because of me, that wouldn’t be right. It’s because of me she messed up Triska’s meal; she couldn’t stop thinking about having sex with me. If it wasn’t for me none of this would have happened, she couldn’t get my body out of her mind. You can’t punish her without doing so to me too, that’s not fair.”

“I wasn’t thinking about having sex with you!” Specca cried out as she buried her face in Daniel’s shoulder out of embarrassment.

“Don’t be so hard on her, I’m just as guilty!” Luna wailed as she held her head against his other shoulder.

Daniel remained silent as he looked from one crying girl who was holding onto him then to another while the others exchanged curious glances. Specca held onto him tightly with his arm being pressed into her bosom and her tail wrapping around his leg. Luna held onto Daniel’s other arm while sobbing on his shoulder, forcing it between her breasts while he had to try and pull his hand away as the girl was holding it so close it was going down between her thighs.