Havermouth, Present TimeAfter arranging for the real estate to come to take photos of the house, Aislen hired a skip bin, and began sorting through the possessions within the master bedroom. Rip the bandage off where it hurt the most, she told herself grimly as she opened the closet. She tossed clothing that was suitable for charity onto the bed, and those that were too stained, torn or worn into a pile on the floor. When she encountered a flannelette shirt that had been one of her father's favorite and had seemed to feature in every photo of him for the decade of her teen years, she sat on the edge of the bed clutching it to her and wept. It still smelled like him, she thought. She put it into a ziplock bag from the kitchen and stuffed it into the suitcase. Stupid, she told herself as she wiped her eyes. Stupid, sentimentality, for a man who valued what little reputation he had held in the town over his teenaged daughter.Her mother had stripped the house of all her valuables when
Havermouth High School, Five Years BeforeAislen wasn’t surprised when Rhett stepped out from the alley between the classrooms as she reached the art room, his eyes to the ground and his hands in his pockets – but his casual demeanour did not fool her for a moment. She hesitated, and he lifted his eyes, meeting hers, and the expression in them caused her breath to catch and her clit to throb.She felt like Eve, she thought, irresistibly drawn to the apple.She crossed to him, and he caught her by the elbows, pulling her flush to him, his body lean and hard against hers, stepping back into the privacy of the alley way, pushing her up against the wall. He lifted her bag off her shoulder, lowered it to the ground without breaking their gazes.His eyes were intense and the almost oily iridescent sheen that she had come to recognize as a sign of werewolfism reflected off their darkness. He buried his fingers into her curls with a sigh as he did so, before leaning forward, the heat of his l
Havermouth, Present TimeTalen did as he had promised, the moment that they were outside of the bar, he scooped her up and threw her over the back of his shoulder, his hands holding onto her thighs, her shriek of laughter and the exposure of her thigh highs scandalizing the yuppies at their meals and cocktails.As Talen strode down the street, indifferent to the stares, she saw Heath stand from one of the tables, pulling his waistcoat down, his expression furious, and his mother reach out to touch his wrist, preventing him from pursuing.She was breathless from the position, the blood rushing to her head, and by Talen’s strength, as he did not even seem to notice her on his shoulder as he strode to the corner. “Which way, sexy?” He asked, nipped the side of her thigh nearest to her, the drag of his sharp teeth across her flesh delicious.“Right,” she told him. “And right again.”Rhett was at the door of his studio, seeing off his client, and she met his eyes as they passed. She blew h
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeIt was near midnight when the house was finally quiet and Aislen snuck out of bed, sliding her window open and slipping over the ledge, pausing with her toes on the narrow footing so that she could reach back for her bag before stepping over the pretty flowerbed that her mother was cultivating, onto the path.The night rustled with life, crickets singing in the grasses falling silent as she walked by and resuming their calls once she passed, a cat’s eyes reflecting eerily from the shadows, and a possum scrambling up a tree. She could hear the cars and music from the town – on a Friday night, the pubs were busy.In the distance she could hear the occasional howl – before coming to Havermouth she would have dismissed it as dogs, but now she knew better. It was the full moon after all, she thought, looking up although she did not need to confirm it visually. Ever since she had discovered that a large percentage of the people in the town were werewolves, she
Havermouth, Present TimeTalen was gone by the time she woke, and she wondered if the legends about vampires and daylight were right. She groaned as she rolled onto her back, and grinned, dropping her forearm over her eyes. Way to make a come back into the dating game, Aislen, she congratulated herself. A sexy daddy-bear vampire f-k buddy.He’d be surprisingly gentle, leaving her feeling thoroughly ridden but not sore, she added as she pulled on a satin kimono style dressing gown that she had loved as a teenager and made her way to the bathroom. She paused in the door to the bathroom, frowning and inhaled.“What the actual f-k?” She made her way down to the kitchen.Heath, immaculate in a grey pinstriped suit, glanced over his shoulder as he buttered toast. “Toast?” He asked coolly. He wore a frilled floral apron that her mother must have left behind tied around his waist and f-k it if he didn’t look deliciously domestic, she thought. The only possible improvement would be if he were
Havermouth High School, Five Years BeforeAislen boarded the bus with a sinking feeling. Already she could hear laughter from the back of the bus. It wasn’t about her, she tried to convince herself, but she recognized Cameron and Heath’s voices, along with Lillian’s and it FELT like they were laughing at her. She picked a seat towards the front of the bus – as far from the Triquetra as she could be. She thought that she had gotten away with it until the bus began moving, and suddenly Rhett sat beside her, having made his way up from the rear, where Cameron and Heath were. He didn’t say anything or look at her but threw himself into the seat next to her with a huff of breath and then organized his sketch book and supplies into his bag between his legs until she couldn’t protest his presence because they were well underway. She sighed and leaned against the windows, looking out. His fingers curled around hers on her thigh, and and her mind filled with his anxiety and concern, images
Havermouth, Present Time As Rhett finally released from within her, they stood staring, eye to eye. She swallowed hard. “Rhett, I…” He cupped her cheek, his gaze softening and dropping to her lips before lifting. “Aislen,” he said quietly. “You are not like us. You don’t understand…” “I have an appointment. We should discuss Aislen’s other lover before I have to leave,” Heath’s shadow fell over them. Her head jerked his way. “What does anyone I sleep with have to do with you? Heath’s laugh was half a sneer and might have fooled her if there wasn’t an edge to it that spoke of… hurt. “Anything to do with you, has everything to do with us,” he shoved back from the doorframe and stepped back into the kitchen, obviously expecting that Aislen and Rhett would follow. She pulled her dressing gown closed around her body, as Rhett closed his jeans, his hair falling over his face in a blatant attempt of avoiding her eyes. She followed him into the kitchen, heading back that way not out of
Havermouth High School, Five Years BeforeAislen waited outside of the headmaster’s office in the chairs deliberately positioned so that their occupiers were subject to the curiosity of passing students. A gauntlet of shame, moving up the queue gradually towards the office door as the headmaster addressed the misdemeanors of those higher ranked.Except that she was the only occupant of the chairs, and the halls were empty but for the few stray students who had lingered behind due to after school commitments, or detentions. Inside the office, her parents’ voices could be heard in rising and falling tones that were rendered meaningless by the wall and glass of the door. The glass warped their silhouettes as her mother rose to her feet, angry. Aislen’s skin was cold, and she swallowed hard. The voices within the office stilled and, a moment later, the door opened. The headmaster, Clive Owens looked down at her. “Come in Aislen,” he said as if it were an invite and not a command. With