Reaper (6 page)

“No, you’re not,” Ethan automatically countered. He sounded sincere.

“Yes I am. I have no friends.” Hunter nudged me and reminded me that he was my friend as well as my Guardian.

Ethan chuckled. “You have friends, Annie. They’re just not here.”

I sighed. “I know. I just kinda assumed I’d make friends here too.”

He lay down and wrapped his arm around me. “Annie, you will make friends, but…” he trailed off.

“But what?”

“You don’t really go anywhere to meet people,” he said guiltily, though he had nothing to feel guilty about. It was my own fault, really. “It’s hard, moving. Trust me, I know. It took me a while to realize that you just have to put yourself out there.”

I nodded. “I know, I just…I just feel like everyone can see right through me and think I’m a freak.”

“Maybe they will,” he said. “But you’re not. If they
really
knew you, they’d know that too. Stop worrying about what other people think of you,” he said rather sternly.

“Ok,” I replied and smiled. Self confidence had never been my forte. “And I’m not,” I repeated. “I’m a witch.”

“Yes, you are,” Ethan said coyly, making me laugh. His hand moved to my side and he propped himself up so he could kiss me. His hand slipped down my waist and I rolled over so I could put my arms around his muscular torso.
 
When his mouth moved from my lips to my neck, I closed my eyes and sighed in pleasure. Hunter lazily got up and left the room. For the next half an hour, I didn’t worry about being a freak.

~*~

“You look pretty,” Ethan complimented as soon as I walked into the kitchen. He stood, put his dirty dishes in the sink, and wrapped his arms around me. “You haven’t dressed up in a while. I kinda miss seeing you like this.”

I leaned into his embrace. “So you’re saying I look bad when I don’t dress up?” I teased.

“Yep,” he played along. “Absolutely disgusting.” He laughed and kissed me. “Of course you don’t,” he clarified. “I think you’re beautiful even if you’re sweaty and covered in horse fur. I might not want to touch you, though,” he joked.

“Dressing up makes me feel pretty, I suppose,” I admitted. “But it’s too much of a hassle. I never got why some girls would wake up super early just to curl their hair before school. It only takes me ten or fifteen minutes to do my hair and makeup. I’d rather sleep in the extra hour.”

“That,” he said and kissed me again, “is why I love you.”

“We should get going before I’m late,” I stated, though I didn’t want to break away from Ethan.

“You’re right,” he sighed and let me go. I hugged Hunter goodbye, gave him a handful of treats, and put on a pair of flat, black boots.
 
Ethan opened the passenger door of the Camaro for me before he got in. I fiddled with his iPod all the way to the bookstore, growing more nervous the closer we got.

Hand in hand, we walked in. I paused in the doorway.

“What if they don’t like me?” I whispered to Ethan. He laughed before he saw the worry in my eyes.

“Annie, I don’t think anyone could not like you,” he promised. “And if they don’t, then, oh well.” He shrugged. “It won’t be the end of the world.”

“It might be!”

“Stop,” he told me. “Just go. You’re gonna make yourself even more nervous thinking about it. You’ll be fine.”

I let out a breath. “I know. Come with me?”

He shook his head. “I won’t fit in. Go, have fun. I’ll be over there, ok?” he said and pointed to the café. I nodded and walked forward, spotting Sage standing in front of a table, with her back turned to the semi-circle of chairs she had set up. I watched her speak in a hushed voice to the woman next to her. Both were wearing long, flowy dresses and gemstone necklaces;
they confirmed my suspicions of stereotypically dressed Wiccans. I smiled when Sage caught my eye; she returned it and motioned for me to sit. I took a seat at the end of the half-circle and looked around as I waited. More 'witches’ started to slowly filter in, some dressed like
 
Sage and her friend, but most were wearing normal, everyday clothes. Ten minutes slowly passed before the two women turned around.

“Hello everyone and welcome. I’m Sage and this is Rayne.” She pointed to her partner. “I see many familiar faces and a few new ones. Let’s start by introducing ourselves. You can use your Coven name, if you’d like. Why don’t we share who we are and a bit about ourselves?” Her voice was smooth and relaxing. I liked listening to her talk.

I mentally went over and over what I was going to say but was still anxious when it came my turn to talk. “Hi, I’m Anora, and I just moved here from New York.” Damn, it sounded better in my head.

“Welcome.” Sage smiled broadly. “How do you like it here?”

“It’s definitely different, but I really like it here,” I answered honestly.

“Wonderful.”

After the introductions were finished, Sage and Rayne spoke about magical herbs and some sort of celebration for the Spring Equinox, which was coming up soon. My mind started to drift and I was getting bored when I noticed a group of three of the coven members starting at me and whispering. They saw me looking and diverted their eyes right away. My cheeks turned red. What could they be saying? Even as I stared intently on Sage, I could see them out of the corner of my eye. Now one was pointing! I couldn’t resist; I looked back at them.

Two girls sat on either side of a tall, sort of chubby sandy blonde young man. One of the girls had sort, medium brown hair and a half a dozen piercings in each ear. The other was incredibly pale and had bright red hair. She caught my gaze and smiled.

Sage and Rayne finished their little presentation and said it was now time for us to mingle. Crap. I hate awkward situations like this. Almost everyone seemed to know each other. Just when I was standing to leave, the brunette with the piercings wandered over.

“Anora, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Hi, I’m René. And these are my friends, Jane and Keith.” She waved at the two she was sitting with. “Do you want to sit with us?” She smiled hopefully.

“Sure.” I followed her back to her friends. “Hi,” I said quietly.

“Hey. I’m Keith.” He smiled. He was impeccably well dressed and put together.

“And I’m Jane,” the redhead said.

“Anora,” I introduced.

“Hey,” Keith said suddenly. “Want to sit in the café and get away from these hippy wannabes?”

The girls nodded enthusiastically. They looked at me.

“I was thinking the same thing,” I confessed.

“So,” René began once we were sitting around a round, tall table. “You’re new.”

“Yeah,” I said softly.

She leaned forward. “And you seem normal.”

“Uh, I think so,” I told her, feeling my cheeks flush just a bit.

“Well not
totally
normal, if you’re here,” Jane added, earning a scolding look from Keith. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Don’t listen to her,” he said and held his hand up to her face. “This was her first Gathering as well. We,” he said and looked at René, “are into this kind of stuff.”

“And what do you mean by that?” I asked cautiously.

“Paranormal stuff,” René answered. “Like magic and ghosts.” She smiled. “Are you? I’m assuming you are.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said with a nod. “I do like paranormal stuff.” I folded my hands in my lap, feeling increasingly awkward.

“This might sound forward,” René started. “But I’m also assuming you’re more of the ‘real deal’, too. Am I right?”

I swallowed. “Uh, I-I don’t know. I guess.”

“Told you,” Keith loudly whispered to Jane. He looked at me. “You’re dressed too normally to be one of the wannabes, you’re here alone so you’re not coming to mock people—sadly, people do— and you’re too quiet to be one of those obnoxious, delusional
 
people who think they have ‘the gift’. People like you don’t come to these that often.”

I can see why
, I thought. I shrugged. “I guess,” I repeated. “What about you guys?”

“I’ve always been sensitive to things,” René informed me. “Sometimes I think I’m psychic.”

“Sometimes?” I questioned.

“Yes,” she affirmed. “I get feelings about things. I suppose you could call it intuition. And ghosts like me. Where ever I go, they seem to follow me.”

I nodded, not sure if she was going to end up being one of those obnoxious, delusional people.

“I just have a strong interest,” Keith said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any cool powers.”

“And I’m just here to piss of my dad,” Jane admitted. “He’s a pastor and thinks this is all insanity or the Devil’s work or whatever he decides to call it. I’ve been friends with Keith for forever so I tagged along.”

“Such a good friend,” Keith said sarcastically.

“But I’m not judging!” Jane added quickly. “I don’t really believe in this stuff, but I think it’s great you do!”

I nodded and smiled to show her it was ok. Silence fell over the table. I picked at my chipping nail polish.

“Well,” Jane said and put her hands on the table. “I’m gonna head home. My dad will be mad enough that I’m here; I don’t want to push it and miss dinner. It was nice meeting you, Anora. Bye guys!”

“Finally,” René laughed. “Sorry, I know she’s your friend,” she said to Keith. “She’s nice and all, just…”

“Not a believer,” he finished for her.

“Exactly.” She turned to face me. “So, you’re from New York. I bet it’s
so
boring here. Do you miss the energy of the city?”

I shook my head. “I’m from Syracuse, not New York City. I really do like it here. I moved into my aunt’s old farmhouse, which is perfect because I have horses.”

“You do?” she asked excitedly. “I love horses! What kind are they?”

I smiled. Now
this
was something I was comfortable talking about. For the next twenty minutes, the three of us chatted about horses, riding, my new barn, and our pets. René used to have a ferret, and Keith’s uncle used to breed German Shepherds. Then the subject switched back to the paranormal, and René entertained us with tales of past ghost hunting experiences. She didn’t claim to have seen or heard anything that would blow me away, which made me more convinced she wasn’t one of those people that annoyed me…and apparently Keith as well.

“I’m starving,” René said with a sigh. “And I want something more substantial than cookies and coffee. Want to get something to eat?”

“You know I’m always in,” Keith agreed. “Anora?”

“Yeah,” I apprehensively agreed. “My boyfriend is here, though. Do you mind if he comes?”

“Not at all,” René said. “I want to pick your brain about horses a bit more,” she added with a wink. “My boyfriend’s grandparents have horses and he said he’s gonna take me riding sometime soon. It would be nice to be able to impress him.”

I smiled. “Sounds good. I’ll be right back.” I quickly walked over to Ethan, who was sitting at a table in the back of the café flipping through a Muscle & Fitness magazine.

“Done already?” he asked, his brown eyes meeting mine.

“Uh-huh. We got invited to go out to eat with the people I was sitting with,” I told him. “Do you want to go?”

“If you do,” he answered.

“I think I do.”

“Think?” he teased and stood up. “I’m hungry,” he added to help convince me. I led him over to the table and introduced him to René and Keith.
 
On our way out, Ethan stepped away to put the magazine he was looking at back on the shelf.

“Your boyfriend is hot,” Keith leaned toward me and whispered.

I might have looked slightly surprised. René put her arms around Keith and said casually, “He’s gay.”

“Oh, cool,” I said.

“So, how did you meet him?” Keith watched Ethan walk deeper into the store.

“It’s a long story,” I admitted.

“Tell!”

“We met at party,” I summed up.

“That’s a long story?” he asked incredulously.

I laughed. “I caught my ex cheating on me, left, and stormed out of the party. I had no idea where I was. It was cold and dark and probably scary if I wasn’t too drunk to realize it. I stumbled into Ethan and he kinda saved me.”

“That’s sweet,” René said.

“Yeah, I guess,” I agreed. I hated talking about mushy feelings. I looked up just in time to see Ethan approach. He took my hand as we walked to the parking lot.

René took us to her favorite Chinese restaurant, which was a cute little place in down town Paradise Valley. We talked about horses, ghosts, and ferrets again, as well as college plans and boyfriends. René was a freshman attending the Paradise Valley University and was majoring in business. She told us that she wanted to be an event planner someday and own her own company. Keith also went to the University and was studying engineering.