Page 32 of Fighting My Demons

I unfold it further and look at Blaine, confused. The name is incorrect, but the picture is of Bella. Xavier clears his throat, and I quickly pass it back to Blaine before I have a chance to read it and sit down. Bella places the coffee on the table before looking over at Blaine.

“What are you doing?” she asks, walking to his side, and he turns around with a book in his hand, looking at the back of it like he is reading it.

Bella lets out a breath, and I see her eyes dart to her trinket box.

“You can borrow it if you want. Didn’t know you liked to read,” she says before sitting next to Xavier.

I haven’t realized I’ve been staring so intently at her until she moves uncomfortably, and I turn my gaze away.

“I see your brother brought your car back,” I tell her, and she nods and sips her coffee, watching me over the rim of her mug.

“Did you tell Jack we are together?” she asks.

“I may have implied it,” I tell her honestly.

“Why? All of you, why? I just don’t get it.”

“Because we like you. Why else?” I tell her, and she shrugs.

Another part of me cringes at her words, making me regret my earlier conversation with Blaine and Xavier. Maybe we have it wrong; maybe we shouldn’t make this a competition. Then also that part of me wanting to tell her peeps its head up again. We all want her but know a human with a harem isn’t really accepted in society. People find it odd, and I wonder if Bella will too. Besides another nagging thought keeps pinching at me. We don’t age, and eventually, she would notice that.

I sigh, and both Xavier and Blaine look at me like they know what I am thinking.

“Does it bother you that much?” I ask her when I am hit with the scent of her fear, making me wonder why she is scared.

Xavier also notices her and lets out his magic when his touch on her knee doesn’t work. Instead, he drapes his arm across her shoulders and plucks her mug from her fingers. He places it on the coffee table, and she practically melts into him thanks to his calming essence.

She sighs dreamily, her fear abating, and I ask again while she is under the influence of his power. He is only using it subtly. So if I ask her, she can technically fight my questions off, and she would still remember them and her answers but may be confused, so I have to be careful.

“Does it bother you that we all want you?” I add all, and Blaine and Xavier pick up on what I am getting at.

Her eyes glaze slightly, and I feel Blaine compel her with his power, trying to will her into spilling her secrets. I glare at him. I can feel it from here, and she will feel the nudging presence against her, but surprisingly she relaxes and lets out a breath like a huge weight has just lifted off her shoulders.

“No. It scares me because of my brother,” she answers.

Xavier’s lips press together.

“Is that all that bothers you about us being with you? What he would think?” I ask her.

“No, what he would do.”

I know she isn’t telling us willingly in a sense, but if she doesn’t trust us, she will have been able to fight off my questions, which means she feels safe enough with us that all her guards are down, and she is open to our influence over her.

“What do you mean? What would he do?”

“He will hurt you,” Bella say, and she blinks, realizing what she’s just said.

She pulls away from Xavier, but before she can move away, my own magic slips over her. She moans, her lips parting, and she clutches Xavier's shirt. I glare at Blaine thinking it is him, but he smirks and shakes his head.

She is reacting to all of us. Our power excites her even if she doesn’t know what it is. Though it is interesting that she reacts like that with all three powers joined; yet, individually, she just relaxes. I pull mine away, and she relaxes again, her arousal slipping away.

“Why do you think he will hurt us?”

“Because he killed my last boyfriend,” she says, almost in a dreamlike state, her eyes far away and glazed.

She almost looks high, and both Xavier and Blaine's magic falters at her words. She stirs, blinking rapidly. I slip off the couch, kneeling between her knees and gripping her face. I watch her eyes glaze over fully, as I use the full weight of my compulsion on her. I hate using it on her, and I would never make her do anything she doesn’t want to do, but I have questions I need to ask and something else I need to do.

“Bella, who is Arabella?” I ask her, knowing she doesn’t go by her full name of Isobella and prefers Bella, and most of her documents have been changed to the shorter version.