Looking down at her hand, she studied the bite as it healed over, and she was left with a faint scar.
She was still studying the scar when someone tackled her and she yelped, hitting the ground face first and getting flattened under them.
"Don't make me stick you in the box!" Daemon raged in her ear as she groaned, crushed under his weight and winded from the force of his hit.
"Get off…" she wheezed, squirming as he grabbed her arms and tugged them up behind her, his fingers clenching her wrists together and she sighed at the flood of warmth that told her he had glued her arms together.
Getting off her, he dragged her up, and she looked at him angrily.
"You know… I was having a nice day until you decided to throw a tantrum."
"Who were you with?" he demanded, but she refused to answer.
The others had heard and come to see what was going on and Letari was quick to hug her.
"None of your business," she muttered and hissed as he jerked her back against him.
Vincent smiled at her, amused, but as he got closer, his smile began to fade and as the breeze shifted, he growled and stalked forward, ripping the mask off. He gripped her arms, bowing his head over her shoulder and up the side of her neck, inhaling slowly and processing the scent.
"What is Neah doing here?" he demanded.
"Who?" Daemon asked, leaning down to sniff her too, and he frowned at the unfamiliar scent.
"Wait, I know that smell… That's been around here a bit lately," Hunter said.
Vincent turned on the hybrid, fuming. "What are you talking about? Etani, why do you smell like Neah?"
"He wanted to hear my scream, we weren't gone very long," she said, frustrated and squirming to get free of Daemon.
"Etani, you need to stay away from him. He's not like the rest of us."
"Oh, so he's not a possessive, controlling jerk then?" she snapped, stamping on Daemon's foot. He let her go, allowing her to move away from him.
"Listen to me. You need to stay away from him. He's not like me, okay?"
"What are you talking about?" she demanded, looking around as Letari sniffed her as well but she couldn't get the scent like the others could, and she looked confused.
"Neah is different, alright? Just trust me. You don't want to get involved with him. It's not safe."
She frowned at him; certain he was keeping something from her, but she wasn't going to listen if he was going to refuse to give her a proper answer.
"He's nice, and hasn't tried to hurt me," she said, irritated by them all.
"Stay away from him," Vincent ordered.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she took a step back from him and dropped her eyes at his continued stare. She wasn't going to listen, but she could at least pretend to listen so he would leave her alone.
Glancing up at him, he was staring hard at her with a weird expression on his face, his mouth turned down into a frown as he turned to Hunter.
"How long has he been around?"
"I don't know, a few weeks. I figured it was just someone prowling around to see if there was anything interesting to steal. Why?"
"I'll handle it," Vincent growled, looking back at her and he wiped his face clear as he found her watching him. What was going on? Why was he so worried about Neah being around her?
"Stay away from him," he demanded, and she dropped her eyes, turning away from him as not to have to agree or disagree with him.
Daemon grabbed her arm and dragged her up the path towards the castle. "I thought I could trust you to be on your own for a few minutes…" he growled. "But no, you can't be trusted to do even that."
"Let go of me, Daemon," she hissed, but he only gripped her tighter.
"No. You're staying right here at my side."
"Let go of me!"
"You could have been killed!" he snarled, furious.
"Let go!" she strained against him, his grip bruising. "You're not my father, and you're not my husband! You can't tell me what to do, and you can't keep me trapped! I don't belong to you!"
He turned on her and she cried out as his hand struck her face, dropping her to her knees before him.
"You are the most valuable, important being in either world, Etani! You need to start acting like it!" he yelled, standing over her as she rolled her jaw. "What part of this are you not getting?! You can be used to create worlds, destroy worlds, and do who knows what else! You are literally the embodiment of death and any being would do anything to get their hands on you! You are completely ignorant of the effect you have on any other being around you and you need to open your eyes! All it would take is one creature bent on dominating this world taking you and that would be it! You can't be this ignorant of what you are capable of!"
She was staring at his feet, his words beating down on her and she bit her lip, tears stinging her eyes.
"I mean really, you're just asking for it when you go running off like that! Again, and again you just leave and hope for the best! So yes, I have to keep you locked up so that you don't get yourself taken and used again! Do you want to end up with another person like Zeus or Drizdan?"
No one was speaking, watching silently as she stared down at the ground, her hair forming a curtain around her to hide her from their eyes.
"If you refuse to accept that you are this important, then we are forced to be the bad guy and keep you safe!"
"Daemon stop," Letari said, and he turned on her, furious.
"You can't tell me you disagree with me! She's your sister!" he raged.
"No, I don't, but stop," her voice was gentle and Etani clenched her eyes shut. She had started crying, huddled at his feet and feeling fragile.
Letari knelt at her side, wrapping her arms tightly around her twin's shoulders and pulling her close. Etani buried her face in Letari's shoulder, wanting desperately for it all to stop and to make things go back to how they were before she came to Ayathian. Before she learnt who and what she was, before any of them knew anything about her. She didn't want to be special, or important, or any of it. She just wanted to be Etani.
Letari stroked her hair gently, the comfort only making her feel worse, and she whimpered softly, trying to remain silent.
"Oh… Etani, I'm sorry…" Daemon sighed, crouching down to run his hand over her hair. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, and that I hit you…"
He wasn't wrong, she knew it. But she didn't want to be any of those things. She wanted to just be herself and not have to worry about so many beings wanting to get their hands on her. She didn't want to be some great creature that everyone would want to get to. She just wanted to exist and be left alone.
"Come on, E, you're okay," Letari whispered, rocking her sister gently.
"Why couldn't you be born first…?" Etani whimpered.
"Because you're stronger. You were born to survive this," Letari whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I couldn't do half the things you've done."
"I just want it to stop…" she whimpered.
"I know, sweetie. But it's not going to. Remember what father said?"
Etani looked up at her twin, Letari gently brushing away the tears from her cheeks.
"You're going to be punished, or even hated. But you're better than all of them and you're going to win," Letari supplied when Etani remained silent, searching her twin's face.
"I don't think he had any idea of what was going to happen," Etani muttered.
"Probably not, but it doesn't mean he's wrong."
Etani nodded slowly, frowning at her sister before she sighed, and Daemon reached around behind her to release her arms.
"Come on, let's go up," the demon said.
Etani stood and accepted Letari's hand, the taller woman leading the way back up to the castle.
Feeling eyes on her, she turned slightly, and she spotted him there, leaning his shoulder against a tree, his arms crossed, and mask pulled down. He even still had the flower crown on. Had he seen the whole thing? Had he heard? She would have to find out next time.