The awaited part 3, been a bit busy, but huge bonus, we have a new person in the lab now, which has helped give me plenty of breathing room. Hopefully we can get better staffing soon, but there's some big shakeups coming, so who knows! Either way, you're here for the story, so without any further delay, The Spark Ignites, part 3.
As always, all characters involved in the fun are 18.
Chapter 12
After Bri had gotten her crying under control, her and Steph had practically dragged my barely functioning ass into Angel's Envy and sat me in a quiet spot. Kari steered us to a back room that Nereah used for business. It was a small room that she had added in for private affairs, parties, business celebrations, whatever. Thankfully nobody had booked it tonight, so we could use it for this reunion. No one in the bar paid us an ounce of attention, they were too busy laughing and poking fun at Gorlack, the Glass Jaw. Once there, Steph had to physically remove Bri from my side and keep her from tackle hugging me again. Currently, I had my head in my hands, feeling both a headache coming on, and the need for a very stiff drink.
As if answering my unsaid plea, I felt a glass mug being set down on the table, and I knew exactly who it was from the faint smell of smoke that she always had. Kari, the amazing woman she was, had brought me a big mug of dragonfire along with a few bottles of mid strength beer for the two women across from me. I didn't even open my eyes, just wrapped a hand around the handle and started drinking. Two gulps later, and I now had a pleasant heat in my chest, along with the feeling that I could get through the next few minutes without letting my powers slip their leash. The faint scent of smoke grew slightly stronger as I felt Kari slide into a seat next to me, her arm wrapping around my shoulder. I finally opened my eyes, and beheld the two women in front of me. It took me a moment to collect my thoughts, but I pried my mouth open and said the only thing I could think of.
"Why did you come find me?"
I cringed inside; that could have come out far better than it did. Bri looked at me with shock, and slight hurt, Steph on the other hand, looked indignant. She stood up, planting her hands on the table as she glared at me.
"Fucker. Why wouldn't we come find you? We both saw your fight on the news, and the call from your shrink just made it easier to pin you down."
That was at least familiar, the name calling Steph did with no real malice behind her words. Before everything, back in high school, you'd almost think we hated each other at times, but it was just our ritual. If she hadn't insulted me, I would have been more concerned about her. Kari, however, wasn't aware of that fact, and she shot up as well, glaring at my cousin, who glared right back, truly heated now. At least she was, until I grabbed the dragon's arm and pulled her close to me. The last thing I needed right now was for one of my lovers to start a fight with my family.
"Kari, I'll be fine, go back to the bar, I can handle this."
I told her softly, and I could see the conflict in her eyes, but after a few moments, she nodded. Kari looked back over at my cousin, and let out a snort, a puff of smoke escaping her nose as she left us. I knew she was going to call Nereah, this wasn't something we could hide from the sexy elf. I watched Kari go, and even though she wasn't trying to be sexy, my eyes were drawn to her ass in the booty shorts she normally wore to bartend. A cough drew my attention back to Stephanie, and her annoyed expression.
"If you're done staring at her ass, you can pay attention to us. Do you have any idea, at all, what it was like? The first thing we heard about you in five years was a news broadcast showing you brawling with a demon in the streets of LA?"
Ah, yes, my little skirmish with that forge master demon, was her name Tina? Whatever, she wasn't important, just another fight, what did matter was the hurt looks my sister and cousin were giving me. It was stabbing me in the heart, and I felt like shit. I ran away, and then they see me get smacked across a street by some muscley woman with a hammer. Fuck, I felt like an ass now. Steph sat back down, but held her annoyed look, Bri on the other hand looked torn between tackling me in a hug, and glaring at me too. I opened my mouth to reply, but the door banged open, and a laughing Hawaiian man stumbled in before righting himself with a chuckle.
"Eyyy palala, why are you back here? We should be celebrating us breaking the toss recor- Oh, sorry about that, didn't realize you had company."
Koa, thankfully, broke the tension in the room. Definitely was going to buy him a round for that. I took the moment to steer the conversation away from my verbal fuckup. I lightly jerked my head in a 'c'mere' gesture. Obviously reading my stressed posture, he gave a slight nod, and stepped over as I rose. He reached over and grabbed a hand I offered to him. I stood, and pulled him into a one armed hug, our free arms clapping each other on the back.
"You ok palala?"
He asked me quietly, I softly snorted, I really wasn't, and I'm sure he picked up on that. I hadn't ever told him much about my family, just that there was a falling out between my father and I that split me off from them. It wasn't too long after our first big fight where we watched each other's backs, and I was fairly plastered when he asked me about my family. After that, he never brought it up again, just told me 'The boss lady' explained a few things. Not too long afterwards he started calling me his brother. Guess he decided that since neither of us had any family real close, we'd be brothers. It was incredibly touching, not that either of us would admit it, we were just stubborn like that.
After a quick couple of seconds, I let go of him, and moved back to my seat. Koa took a second to look over my family, a complex look on his face. It was a mixture of distrust, curiosity, and worry, I guess he somewhat knew what my family looked like from Nereah. I wouldn't put it past her to inform the bouncers I worked with regularly about my family, in case they showed up one day, and I couldn't control myself. He schooled his face into a more neutral expression before he sat down a seat away from me, facing them. At this point, he decided to make a larger verbal fuckup than I had.
"So, you the good ones or the bad ones, cause you can leave if you're just here to stir up trouble."
I picked up my mug with a sigh and started drinking. This was going to go downhill, rapidly. Steph was always a bit of a hothead, and I had already gotten her a bit worked up. Now, she was right back on her feet, and throwing a withering glare at Koa. He wasn't the slightest bit concerned, and why would he be? He had also stared down a pissed off Kari before. Compared to the rage of a fire dragon, my cousin was nothing. Only reason it hurt me was the emotional baggage I had.
"And who are you to ask me that? We're his family, you're just some guy!"
Stephanie snapped at Koa with biting words that he laughed off. He shook his head and leaned back in his chair, snatching up an unopened bottle of beer. He raised it to his mouth and used a tooth to pop the lid off. He downed half of it before setting it back down, a bit of an edge in his words.
"More than that wahine, he's my ohana, one of the few I've got, and I've been one of the few he's got too, other than the boss lady and my tita. They make each other happy, bit odd, but still. Can't complain."
Both Bri and Stephanie were looking at Koa like he was speaking nonsense, which I suppose to them, he was. His mixture of mostly English with some Hawaiian slang could confuse people who weren't ready for it. I rubbed the bridge of my nose as Steph sat back down. Then I cut in before they could ask him what in the fuck he just said.
"He called us family, he's my best friend, the 'Boss Lady' our boss, and someone I care for dearly. Tita is sister, and you just met her, she's my..."
