Grounded

[Lovely]

August 8, 2007


She'd been gone for days, seeking out her uncle and her sister, looking for answers and exposing lies. It seemed Tasa had discovered much on her own and their uncle was confronted with what had been uncovered. Ari now returned to Marcus...

"bring it on gurly."

"dont say that to me when you're being all dark and shadowy.."

"or else what?" *challenges with a grin*

"or I just might give it to you.." *grins back, stepping closer*

"You think so?" He chuckled, wary and curious. "And what if that's what I wanted you to do, hm?"

"Then say it again.. like you want it.." She spoke softly, shutting the door behind her and turning the lock with a soft clicking noise.

His head cocked to the side as he heard the click, amused and more curious. "You heard me," he said softly, directly, teasing yet demanding just the same. "I said... bring it on."

Her cross bow flipped easily into her hands and though it pointed at him for a moment, something about the way she held it said she didn't intend to use it. "I was hoping you'd say that.." Her voice was low and more dark laced than it usually was. Her scent would tell him how upset she was, how much anger and aggression she had that needed to be worked out. But at the same time it would tell him how she still felt about him, that she was drawn and longing for him.. despite what she'd found out that had her so disturbed. She looked to him in the dim light of the room, how the shadows curled around him. her hand slid over the bow and with a simple movement she pulled it with the strap over her head and off her shoulder, setting it gently with the arrows to lean against the wall. "Tell me about a little house, set back in the woods.. a few miles outside of town.. tell me my uncle lied to me again." She walked slowly toward him, her bow set aside, just her knives where they always rested and her.

Marcus watched her movements and smelled her upset, both souring the mood in the room. He'd expected it, but wasn't sure he was ready with her answers since most she would ask for were ones she wouldn't want to hear. "Which little house in which woods might that be?" He grinned weakly though it wasn't an attempt at humor so much as truly asking. "Many woods, many little houses... and I will tell you again. He lied, at least about one very important detail."

"Devhano.. a little house.. a little barn.. it was a pretty big family.. lots of daughters.. it's not a common name and not one people forget easily.. and it happens to be mine!" Her eyes flared softly as she stalked him, watching him and waiting for more answers to come. "Tell me he lied!" She demanded, her lips trembling slightly, she was comming closer to him, her chest heaving beneath the tight fitting shirt. "Tell me he wasn't protecting us from you!.. Tell me you.. that this wasn't a set up!"

He didn't cower and kept her gaze. "That's not the lie, Arianne. He's been wise to keep you well, but not wise to hide the real reason. There is no set-up here, if that's what you believe. I wouldn't have torn half my gut out for show."

Her hands clenched into tight fists and she was shaking a little when she finally came to stand directly in front of him. "It's true?" She whispered, feeling like the wind had been knocked from her, her head shook, trying to deny it for him. ".. real reason.. there something more than needing to keep us from those who murdered our entire family? Did more than kill them.. " She closed her eyes, biting back the rest of those words. "I don't know what to believe.. what to think.. my head is spinning and I feel sick to my stomach.. yet.. I'm here.. because I don't want to believe it."

[Lovely]

"Then don't," he stated simply enough. "But you perpetuate it more if you deny it. I wasn't there, but I know the reasons. And yes, there's more."

"You... weren't there?" She whispered, lifting her eyes to his, her voice softer than a whisper. She chewed her lip, tugging the tender flesh hard enough to draw a little blood as she searched his eyes and herself, trying to find strength. "Tell me... please."

"The lie is that you're a human girl, Ari. I think you realized that the minute you woke beside me. The truth is that my father deserved to die many times over and over again still if it were possible."

She laughed sadly, nodding her head and pulling her fingers back into her hair as she sighed. "I know.. I'm not. I tried to be.. after Aberto told me.. I was so upset. I tried to drink my tea and go back to what I was a week ago. I don't even know what I was thinking, how doing that could make it go away or.. I don't know."

"I'm sorry, Arianne. It's not a terrible existence, no matter the horrors you recall. We survive. Some of us make sport to do it. Your family suffered my father's games."

She shook her head again and brought her eyes back to his. "It wasn't a game.. that was not a game.. I was there." She let out a soft breath and pulled her fingers from her long locks, which now came loose of the tie that had held them in place. She wiped at her eyes and sniffled a little. "It didn't work anyway.. the tea just made me awfully sick.. I couldn't even drink more than a few sips and I think it's still making me ill." She chuckled, shrugging and wrapping her arms around herself. "Guess I can't go back.. I don't really want to.. it was just, I was so upset. and I'm grounded."

"Then don't. You're grounded anyway, but you've escaped," he chuckled gently and offered his hand out to her. "Make the best of your freedom, hm? If you're sick, you should rest. Perhaps some of Grandmother's finest is more what you may need."

"Can I be grounded here?" She lifted her hand to take his, curling her fingers tightly into his and pulling his hand to her lips to kiss it softly. "He doesn't want me to see you."

"And I gather, by your asking, that's not what you want? What have you told him, then? And how much does he not want you here? If he's coming to finish us off, then he might want to know about the girl. She's a key to all of this, Ari, and now that she's gone, I can only imagine what's about to happen now."

"Thats not what I want.." She shook her head, wondering if he would send her away, now that this had come to light. "I want to be with you... if you're still interested?" She sighed, feeling lost and uncertain. "He might come.. but he's not stupid.. he won't take on all the boys." She bit her lip, looking down at the floor -thinking about the girl he was so insistant on getting back. "Would you rather.. I not be around.. With the girl and all.. would you rather.."

"Interested," he said succinctly, quietly. He reached a fingertip to her chin to turn her gaze to meet his. "And I want you here, rather than anywhere you might be hurt. If he and the others want us, they'll do everything in their power and may not stop even with you in their way. The 'girl and all' as you put it isn't what you might think. She has an important role to play, but not with me."

"Alright." She whispered softly, to both his wanting her there and what he said about the girl. She curled the hand she still held onto, closer to her. "I missed you." She whispered, giving him a small smile.

[Lovely]

He nodded and tugged lightly for her to follow him to sit down. "Thank you. You were missed as well, though we've been busy... searching of course. A few leads turns quickly into a few dead ends... not literally," he grinned. "Your skills may be needed, or at least your memory. Tell me about your mother."

She followed him and curled most naturally with him, her legs resting over his as she sat next to him, keeping her hand in his. He recieved an odd look as he asked about her mother and her eyebrow arched up. "What about my mother? I could tell you alot of things you don't need to know.. about her voice or how beautiful she was.. but it would probably be more helpful to know what you do need to know."

He looked down to see that he was running his finger over the ring she wore. He'd taken his father's... his...off to store it safely. "Just tell me what you remember about her. She was a kind and gentle woman who baked cookies for all the neighborhood kids, right?" He turned to look at her with an amused expression that was turbulently dark beneath, wanting truth no matter how disturbing that knowledge might be for them both.

She shook her head and sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head against the cushion, letting her mind take her back to a different time and place. She could see her mother smirking as she stood in their livingroom, having proven herself right about something to their father. "She was.. amazingly beautiful.." Ari began softly. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone who was as beautiful. Graceful.. even when doing the simpliest things, elegant in everything. She was proud.. nearly regal. She was strict.. much stricter than my father. Her home, her husband, her kids.. all held to a very high standard. She was harsh and swift in disipline.. but she was as kind to us as she was demanding. Kissing away ills and hurts, but always encouraging us not to let them set us back. She used to sing.. often.. sing to us.. sing as she cleaned. I used to sneak downstairs after bedtime to watch her dancing with my father.. the way they swept around the room. The way he looked at her.. he adored her." She paused opening her eyes to look at Marc, wondering if she should go on.

He was smiling softly, nearly picturing the scene himself. His father had taught them dancing, but it wasn't something he was afforded the time or means to enjoy. His eyes seemed pale and softer than they'd been as he nodded for her to go on. "She taught you well. Go on."

She smiled as softly in return, watching the expresion on his face -adoring him as well. She continued with a light chuckle. "She always caught me.. no matter how well I tried to hide and watch them. She was strong.. I guess maybe I understand now why, but I used to be so impressed when she did things I didn't see other women do without help. She was independant.. wouldn't ask for help, just did things. She was definately in charge in our house.. my father would do anything she asked of him. Buy her anything.. she was a little spoiled I guess, but he adored her and it showed. I don't really know about that.. never experienced anything like it. But she would get so angry sometimes.. I don't know why, they would fight, she'd break things and punch the walls. Get very quiet for days after, withdrawn.. depressed.. She used to scare me when she was like that. So cold and dark.. like she didn't even care about us. It was like you could feel it when she passed you.. she'd look at you like she was looking through you. Dad used to tell us it had nothing to do with us and not to let it bother us, that she'd be fine. He said she was sad sometimes because of things that had happened and the memories upset her sometimes. I heard them sometimes.. her yelling about everything she'd given up to be with him.."

"Things she'd given up? Did you ever find out what that was?” He asked, though he already knew somewhat. The life the woman may have had if things had been different, though he was thankful in his selfish way that they’d gone as they had to have this woman here beside him. “It wasn’t to do with you, I’m certain of that.”

"I don't know.." She shook her head and sighed. "Aberto is not really forthcoming with much for details.. even though I know.. what I do.. He's still not telling my the whole story." Ari shifted closer in his lap a bit, curling towards him. "I always thought it was money.. We weren't poor or anything but there were several.. almost a dozen of us kids. So my parents must have.. you know loved each other.. maybe a year between each.." She smiled a little, blushing lightly at the thought. "Mmm anyway.. Aberto was well off.. when we went to live with him. We didn't see him much before that.. but yeah he had money.. and my dad used to call my mom 'you're highness' when they would fight, like digging at her and it would make her soo mad.. seeing how our uncle lived, we assumed she'd given up a life of luxury."

[Lovely]

“She did,” he murmured under his breath, looking out into the room, though peering into a place in his mind. “Excuse me a moment. Don’t leave. I’ll be right back.” He was fully distracted by something, triggered by her words.

"She did..?" She started to question him, but saw his distraction and let him go, curling into herself as she watched him get up. She wondered where he was going and what he was doing, so suddenly when they'd been talking like they had.

Marcus disappeared down a flight to the cellar, his boots hitting the cement steps with soft taps followed by a pause then the sound of rifling through heavier boxes. “Ari?! Come down, would you?”

She walked to the door he'd gone through and stood at the top of the stairs. "I thought you were coming right back?" She folded her arms around her middle and walked carefully down the stairs as she was unfamiliar with his cellar. "What is it?" She asked him softly as she came up behind him where he was riffling through the boxes.

“Something you may recognize. Not sure,” he said, holding a lid off a painting, a family portrait, studying it with a perplexed expression.

She gasped, her hand lifting to her mouth as her eyes widened. "Who.. where did you get this?" She asked him in a whisper, unable to take her gaze off a woman who looked just like her mother.

“It was something else my father kept, though it didn’t really belong here. You recognize them, then?”

"It.. umm.. it looks like my mother.. I.." She just shook her head, staring at the beauty in the portrait. "The man looks much like my uncle.. but I don't know him.." She pointed to another man in the portrait.

Marcus grinned. “You shouldn’t. Or you’d have known me a long time ago. That’s my father. One of the few times he was ever standing still and obviously not happy about it.”

"The.. it looks old.. is that my mother with him?" She chewed her lip and kept staring at the portrait, studying 'her mother' and the strange man. "How long ago was this?"

“About.. well nearly two hundred years, now,” he rattled off. He hadn’t thought about it really. “Your grandmother, I believe, and that... that’s your uncle, isn’t it?”

"Two hundred? Wow.. how can my uncle be in.. ohhh this is alot to take in.. So this is my grandmother, your father, my uncle.. why are they all together.. and why did he attack my family?"

“Status, power... something your father had that he couldn’t,” he murmured, looking over the painting more.

"But if he's with my grandmother and uncle.. didn't that mean he had status and power? Look at them.. they look like nobility.. royalty.. I just don't understand.. what could my father have had that yours didn't?"

“Your mother,” he grinned. “Anything he ever had wasn’t enough and he always wanted more. He could have had seven wives and not ever had his dick get soft, f*cking bastard.”

[Lovely]

She slid her hands into her back pockets and rocked on her heels, giving him a look at his last comments. "My mother.." She sighed and glanced back to the portrait. "I suppose in some twisted, sick way that explains why they.. did what they did to the girls.." She shook her head, feeling light headed again and closing her eyes. "My family.. because he wanted my mother? That's insane.. " She sighed heavily, pulling her arms tighter around her. ".. guess he finally got her." She looked at Marc again, her blue eyes sharply piercing. "It's a good thing he's dead.. cause I'd kill him."

“Because he wanted an elite and wealthy litter of strong boys. He hadn’t counted on her being as strong as she was and she was, like you mentioned. Her will and her words... and her love for someone other than him. She denied riches for romance. Classic love story, tragic end and jus...,” he choked back on the word, the name ‘justice’. “He got what he deserved and I can’t grieve for him, but I can‘t deny what he gave us.”

She sighed softly and uncurled an arm, reaching out toward him, her hand finding a place to rest on his hip. "I'm sorry.. I don't want you to deny anything.. he was what he was.. and he did what he did.. but you're not him and I don't want to take my feelings about what happened out on you. It wasn't your doing."

“No. I’m my father’s son, not my father,” he said, sliding the portrait back under its protective coverings for another eternity. His grin was again weak, his mind going in multiple directions at once. “You’re not taking your feelings out on me... at least not those feelings.” He turned and wrapped around her. “It wasn’t my doing, but this is,” he reached for a kiss if she’d have one.

She wasn't sure if his first statement was entirely comforting, it seemed to have more meaning than she yet understood. When he wrapped around her it gave her a kind of relief and comfort she hadn't expected and she sank into his embrace. The kiss he reached for was softly, sweetly given as her other hand slid gently up his arm to rest on his shoulder. "Are you sure about that?"

He nodded, groaning beneath the smile as he reached for another kiss and teased her. “You’re grounded. Shouldn’t you go to my room?”

"I'm a little rebellious.. you might have to take me there." Her smile started showing again, her eyes begining to regain their sparkle.

“Keep it up, you may get a spanking young lady,” he mused, holding out his arms as either a threat or an offer for her to leap into them.

She laughed softly and it felt wonderful to be able to, with a slight hop up she tossed herself into his arms. Wrapping around his shoulders and nipping at his ear. "Promise?"

“We’ll see. How are you with bread, water.. maybe a bit of the hair-of-the-dog,” he teased, nipping back, playfully but roughly as he started to take her up the steps.

"I'll pass on the bread and water.." She shivered at his playful but rough nipping, but didn't shy away from his more aggressive affection.

[Lovely]

****************************************


Ari had woken from a short nap after she'd returned to Marc's side and they had uncovered some truths about the past. After working through some aggression and showing each other how much they had missed one another, she'd fallen into a light restful sleep. It must have done her some good as she woke up refreshed and with the 'light bulb on', having a smart idea on how to find the girl. She simply asked what her name was.. the boys only knew her as Nicky, but that was enough to start with. Pulling her lap top out of the truck and 'plugging' into her sources and contacts, she began to dig and hack to find what she might. Ari and Tasa had been drawn back to this town due to the missing persons reports and the bodies that were turning up. This is where she started and she quickly found one

Nicoleta 'Nicky' Cowen in the list, pulling up the report with the picture, she asked the boys if this was the girl they'd been looking for. When they confirmed that was her, it took only a few more minutes for Ari to have the report and some addresses for them to check out. She read off some brief details of the police report to let them know a bit about the girl's status.

The report stated that Nicky was found about a week after she disappeared from the parking lot of a local club. She didn't remember much about her 'odreal' and said she never saw her kidnappers faces, she could give little information to help identify them. She was treated for some injuries due to minor exposure and what appeared to be some kind of animal attack, she was released from the hospital the next morning.

Biff read over their shoulders and took the note from Marcus’ hand as he finished scribbling. “I’ll take that, thank you.” He looked over his brother’s face and grinned wider. “You really should keep her, you know. Takes -years- off.” He laughed a little harder and stepped away. “Don’t wait up.”

The response only pulled his eyes into a roll as he uttered a sigh and listened for Biff to actually leave. Not one to miss a chance to stand out a little more than some, the rev of a yellow coupe relayed the fact of when Biff really was on his way as he peeled out of the drive. “You’re welcome,” he smirked quietly to the air and turned to Ari. “Apparently we have work to do, ourselves.”

Ari covered her mouth and giggled softly as Biff teased Marc and then took off to check the address he'd taken from Marc. "What do you think, should you keep her?" She smiled softly over at Marc, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Um.. baby.. so how much older than me are you?" She closed the laptop and slipped it into it's beat up case, so they could get to their 'work' as well.

The response was again muffled in a sigh as he put his pen away and tried to actually not disturb her again as he had with the news of her uncle. He’d said it without thinking before. “*Mumble*-dred and *mumble*dy-two,” was how it sounded to even the keenest of hearing over the click of the pen and swish of his jacket he pulled on as he got ready to leave as well.

Her eye brow arched and she slipped her torn but washed jacket on, she'd gotten the blood out of it but there wasn't alot she could do for the shreds from the teeth of the wolf that had challenged her. "Uh huh.. what was that?" She bit her lip and reached to pull his hands to her and kissed him softly. ".. something hundred and what two?" She curled her fingers gently in his.

His looked to the ceiling, defiant, yet apologetic as he sighed and looked back down at her directly. “One hundred and seventy two,” he repeated succinctly, wondering if that was acceptable or completely off-putting to her.

"You're that much older than me.. or that old?" Her eye brow arched again and a bit of teasing peeked out in her smile as she stepped closer to him. She was surprised that he was of such an age but not as shocked as she'd been upon learning other things.

“Would it matter? Can we go? Besides... I don’t look a day over 40,” he defended quietly, nodding toward the door.

She giggled and then giggled some more, curling her arms around his waist and turning slightly toward the door so that they could go. "Awwww baby, are you sensitive about your age?.. I would have said not over 30.." She added, with a kiss to his cheek.

“Hush, you,” he scolded, though he couldn’t help but grin. His arm swooped around her. “I prefer other sensitivities, thank you.”

She bit her lip to keep from giggling again, finding him adorable at the moment with his grin and the way he'd gotten all sensitive about his age. Ari cuddled to him for the walk to the truck, letting her head rest against his chest and shoulder. "You'll just have to keep showing me what those are.. so we can enjoy them together."

“I will.. later. Just drive,” he nodded toward the truck, parting with a light kiss and grabbing his bag of extra gear should he need it, a few additional items thrown in this time including a harness, muzzle and rope if the girl got out of hand.

"Okay.. I'll drive.." She smiled, rolling her eyes lightly -like he'd asked her something hard or scolded her, but scooted around to get in and get them going.