Blackened Angel

I'd be lying if I said I expected Rouge and Trish to have worked things out so quickly, but it turns out they're a lot more mature than me and Elise... Despite being younger than us... Huh, I think I underestimated my need for self-improvement.

Even so, I feel good. They're happy, Elise and I are happy, my family's happy, my friends are... Hopefully happy. I need to check to see how everything went but from the lack of Anya, Jessie, or Skye when we come back down the stairs, I assume it went well. Hell, I even managed to make progress in putting the whole Jenny situation behind me... For all the nerves and the drama and the scheming... It suddenly feels worth it.

It feels peaceful.

The crowds have thinned out now, presumably going to other parties, or found people to bang for the evening. We head back outside and I take stock of the remainders of our group. Henry and Gabriel are cuddled up on a couple of the chairs, not gonna lie, they look pretty cute. Kara's missing, maybe she got a ride with Anya? Lastly there's Rob and Jenny... They're... Well, I'd call it making out against the fence at the back of the garden, but honestly, it looks like a kind of interpretive dance crossed with cannibalism. There's a lot of wriggling and gasping for breath...

We join Henry and Gabriel on the chairs, it's chilly out, but I pull Elise into me and wrap my cape around both of us while the new couple find out what they missed.

"Not sure what happened to the others, Kara's playing drinking games with some of the people inside, and those two... Well, we've just left them to it." Henry explains awkwardly. I decide not to mention my plot to trio up Jessie, Anya, and Skye to Rouge and Trish... Partly because it'd be awkward to explain to that I'd convinced Trish's at-the-time girlfriend to get together with other people, and partly because I don't know how it went yet, no point setting off fireworks yet.

Soon after, Kara appears and approaches Jenny and Rob, I can't hear what she says, but it's enough for Jenny to suddenly rush outside, with Kara following close behind. Rob tentatively returns to the group with a concerned expression.

"Hey." He opens with. "So, uh... I..." He stammers, looking to Rouge, who apparently clocks what he's feeling conflicted about.

"Relax, you two look good together." She smiles. I think she's too happy to worry about any perceived slights right now, which seems to set Rob at ease. He sits down next to Gabriel, and we all swap stories about past Hallowe'ens... Or rather, I listen to the various exploits of my peers, while I remain silent. 'I once devoured three tubs of ice cream in one night' is not as riveting as it sounds.

"How's your French going? Practising every day?" Gabriel asks me. He's really come out of his shell since we made our deal, he doesn't seem afraid of me anymore, I guess he shouldn't be, not like I have anything to dislike the guy for now.

"I'm doing my best!" I respond with my best pronunciation, I either said that or I insulted his mother, it's hard to know with French. I really have been putting the effort in, the last few days I've had Elise helping me too. She's more than happy to teach me how to speak her mother tongue, if not just for the practical benefits of being bilingual, but because apparently my accent in French is pretty damn sexy. Makes a change, I guess.

Rouge looks to me with shock. "I didn't know you were learning French!" She exclaims. "Here I was thinking you were only interested in talking bullshit!" okay, so she may still be a tad miffed about locking her in a room, but it was for her own good!

Our banter is interrupted by the return of Kara, who quickly approaches our group, she looks afraid for some reason, like she's seen a ghost. I suppose that's appropriate for Hallowe'en.

"Scarlet..." She begins. "Your... Your brother's here." Wait, what? I sit forward, awaiting an explanation from her, why would Jasper come here? "Jenny's dad turned up, apparently she wasn't expecting him, then suddenly Jasper arrived, they started arguing, I just knew I had to get you." She tells me.

This doesn't make sense, what's he got to do with Jenny? Or her family for that matter?

"Jenny barely speaks to her dad, he's always out of the country, some scheme or another, real dirtbag from what she's told me." Trish points out, as confused as me. I look to Rouge, who nods to me as a subtle gesture of alliance, we need to go find out what's happening. We stand and follow Kara into the house, the three of us going upstairs, hearing the sounds of arguing as we approach.

"...me, right?" I hear Jasper's voice yell.

"It's complicated, I couldn't just drop it on all of you!" A deep voice answers

"And what about me? Were you ever going to tell me?" Jenny responds accusingly.

Kara gestures to the door and makes her exit, I guess she doesn't want to stick her nose in, fair enough, I feel like I'm intruding myself. Not that it's gonna stop me. I shoot a confirmatory glance to my sister, who returns the look, and open the door to the room.

Inside appears to be some kind of library or study, there's books along the walls and a desk littered with manuscripts. Jenny's the first face I see, her make-up smeared with tears, and he face as white as snow. Jasper almost jumps out of his skin as we enter, as if he wasn't expecting to see us... Did he not know we were at his party? The mysterious stranger is an older man, with brown hair and green eyes, he definitely has a family resemblance to Jenny, not that it's surprising for someone's father I suppose. What is surprising is his outfit, skinny jeans, a weathered grey t-shirt with a black waistcoat, and a gold chain around his neck, he looks like someone desperately trying to relive his youth.

"What's going on?" Rouge asks for both of us, Jenny stays silent and looks away, the man looks shell-shocked, and Jasper is the only one to step forward.

"You're not going to tell them? You come all the way here and you've got nothing to say?" He asks the guy, who doesn't respond. "Figures you wouldn't." Jasper continues with a sigh. "This is Ashley Cross, a friend of mine at the hotel said he'd checked in, so I followed him here."

But, why would he bother? I don't-

"This is our father."

The words hit me like a punch to the face.

That's not possible. We don't have a dad. Eighteen years and I've never had a dad. I still don't. I can't, right? How would Jasper even know this? It has to be a mistake. I look to Rouge, but her expression is empty, then I turn to Ashley's, trying to figure out what the catch is. What's the punchline?

"Girls, I didn't want you to find out this way..." He answers, but can't seem to figure out how to word it.

"Oh, and that makes me your half-sister, so yeah, bad news all round... I'm sorry." Jenny whimpers before fleeing the room. I can't blame her.

I feel cold.

"I wanted to meet you, I swear, I-" Ashley begins before being cut off.

"Oh shut the fuck up!" Jasper yells. "Ashley here turned up a couple of years ago, wanting me to lend him money, I told him to fuck off and never come back, turns out he finally heard about his ex kicked Jenny out, so he came here to see what was happening, because it turns out when he cheated on Mum he got that girl pregnant too. At least he bothered to check up on one of his kids!"

Ashley finally turns to face his son. "It wasn't like that!" He roars. "I'd heard Jenny was homeless, I couldn't just leave her! I'd have come see you all too, but you made it clear last time that I wasn't welcome."

Jasper grabs him by the t-shirt before responding. "Don't put that shit on me, you had sixteen years before that to make amends, you don't get to play the victim now!

"Stop." Comes a quiet voice that cuts through the yelling. Rouge's calm tone juxtaposed by the anger in the room. Jasper obeys and releases his fistfuls of Ashley's collar. "Are you really my father?" She asks.

Ashley straightens himself up before turning to her. "Yeah... I'm... I'm your dad, Scarlet." He responds, incorrectly.

Rouge responds to this in a way I didn't expect, with a low chuckle that slowly builds into raucous laughter, as she take several steps to our father and places her hands on his shoulders, still howling with laughter.

Before suddenly stopping.

"I'm Rouge, motherfucker." She states with a venom I've never heard from her, before delivering a swift knee to his groin. My sister walks away and out of the room, while he drops to his hands and knees in pain. I look down at him, I should feel something, shouldn't I? Anything at all, intrigue maybe? Pity? But nothing comes to me. This man's just a stranger. he can stay that way.

"Next time, don't come back." Jasper spits as he follows Rouge out the door. I'm left alone with the hobbled man, who looks up at me, as if expecting mercy from the only child left. He expected wrong.

"You know, I suspected you were dead." I reveal. "Figured it was the only thing that would make sense. The only reason you wouldn't come for us." I continue, as he returns to one knee and looks up at me. My hand moves on its own and slaps him across the face. "I wish I had been right."

I leave the room to catch my siblings.

It feels peaceful.