~ Chapter Five ~

When Ivy opened her eyes, she was still in the forest, the only thing missing was Zeke. She turned around to see if the black orb was still there, but it too had disappeared. Frowning, she sniffed carefully and made her way back home. She knew her daddy would smell Zeke all over her and flip, but that's what Zeke had wanted to happen. With her lips still tingling from the aftershock of the kiss, she trudged through the forest, breaking through the trees sooner than she thought.

"Ivy?" she heard Theo's voice question worriedly. He sounded like he was calling down a tunnel from far away. "Hey, sis, are you okay? What happened to you?"

"I'm fine," she growled at him, wanting to hole up in her room for the rest of the day.

Theo stood up and came closer to her, sniffing suspiciously. "Why do you smell funny? Who touched you? What happened?" he was raising his voice now, small growls erupting from him throat.

"No!" Ivy cried out angrily. "You don't get to act like a brother now. Not after what you've done. You can't pretend to care because your stupid minions aren't around! I'm fine, so just leave me alone, okay? Oh, and find someone else to torture from now on; I've had enough of your stupid games!"

She stormed past a stunned Theo and into the estate, heading straight for her room. On the way she accidently passed the room where her daddy and Finn were sitting.

"Ivy?" Raine questioned, when he saw her storm by. The scent hit him seconds later, raising his hackles. "Fuck, I know that smell," he hissed. Finn was frozen next to him, recognizing the scent of a demon.

"Was it on Ivy?" he asked Raine worriedly.

"Gods, I hope not," Raine answered with a muted growl. He pushed to his feet and followed after his daughter, praying that he had made a mistake and smelled something else. "IVY!" he bellowed, "Come here, please!"

She ignored him and slammed her door angrily, fighting the tears that threatened to overflow. Stupid brother, stupid Zeke! She flopped onto her bed and cursed into her pillow.

"IVY!" Raine pounded on her door frantically needing to see that she was ok. "Please open the door up."

"Go away!" she grumbled.

"No. Open this door or I'll knock it down and you won't have a door until some fixes it."

Groaning, she pushed off her bed and headed over to the door. "Fine!" she whined dramatically. If she didn't open it, her dad would knock it over and it would probably be a year before she got another door. She desperately needed the privacy the door offered. Ivy threw open the door, cocking her hip and giving Raine a bratty look. "What?" she sneered.

Raine took a step closer and sniffed her, crinkling his nose in distaste. "Why do you smell like a demon?"

All the blood drained from her face as she realized she wasn't going to get away with not telling her father about her encounter in the woods. She quickly tried to think of a story to tell him, but he barked her name and raised an eyebrow. "Don't even think about lying to me."

"Fine. I got lost in the woods and somehow got transported to the demon realm without knowing it. It looked the same as our woods. I came across a boy a couple years older than me and he offered to take me back to our forest. When we got back to the 'portal' sight or whatever it was, he embraced me and told me..." she paused and said in one breath with her eyes clenched shut, "he told me to tell you that Ayumu's son says hi."

Ivy opened one eye when utter silence greeted her statement. Raine was staring at a point behind her, shaking with barely suppressed rage.

"Daddy, who is Ayumu?" Ivy whispered worriedly.

He jumped and looked down at her briefly, giving a vacant smile, "No one you need to worry about, sweetie. I want you to promise me something, Ivy."

She eyed him skeptically, "What?"

"Promise that you won't go out into the woods alone. At least take someone with you, okay? I just want you to be safe. The demons can't be trusted right now, okay? Please, baby."

"Yes, daddy," Ivy agreed, knowing it would be pointless to argue with him. He would simply ground her, just to 'keep her safe'.

"What was the boy's name?" Raine asked absently.

"Uh, he said his name was Zeke," Ivy supplied. "Daddy-"

Raine leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, "Thank you, sweetie." He turned and walked briskly out of the room, calling for Finn, Fletcher, Paxton and Jed to join him in the meeting room they had finally set up.

Ivy watched him walk away with mingled irritation and frustration. He never told her anything, just expected her to stay safe. Growling, Ivy slammed her door shut, but realized she didn't feel any better. She was worried about Zeke and what her daddy would do to him. Even though she was angry with him, she didn't want him hurt; she just wanted to be left alone.

"You're never alone," Zeke's voice whispered softly in her mind. Ivy froze in place and moved her eyes slowly, looking for any sign of Zeke. "I'm not in the room, little girl," he chuckled.

"Then how can I hear your voice?" she hissed angrily.

"Look at your wrist, little girl," he teased.

"Stop calling me that!" Ivy said angrily. She was tired of being made fun of and teased by everyone and she certainly didn't need some arrogant stranger adding to the mix. She glanced down at her left wrist and didn't see anything so she scoffed and looked at her other, just for good measure, and nearly screamed. "Oh my god, what have you don't to me?" she asked shakily, holding her wrist away from her body like it was going to come to life and attack her. "What did you do to me?"

"Relax," Zeke said casually. "I just marked you so that I can find you whenever I need to. It's how I can talk in your head. Anyways, I won't be bothering you until you're eighteen, cupcake, so don't freak out too much." He laughed softly and his voice seemed to fade as he said, "See you in two years."

Ivy released a ragged breath and glanced at her right wrist again, scared to see if the mark was still there. "Daddy!" she called out shakily, not sure how to handle the situation. "DADDY!" she screamed louder, hysteria setting in. Ivy threw open her bedroom door and raced throughout the mansion, trying to find her dad's scent. "DADDY!" she cried again, hearing his muffled curse a floor below. She scrambled down the stairs, listening for his thundering steps.

"Ivy?" she heard Raine call out frantically. "What is it baby?" He met her halfway up the steps and pulled her into his arms in a comforting embrace. Raine wiped the tears off her face and stared intensely at her. "Ivy, sweetheart, what's wrong?" A thousand different scenarios were running through his head when he heard Ivy cry out for him. He was on edge because of the demon and because of the recent threats to his family.

"L-look," she wailed, holding out her arm to him. "Make it go away, please!"

Raine gave her a worried look before glancing down at the arm she had thrust out. "Oh gods," he choked. He blinked a couple times, hoping it would go away, but the black X stayed there, just like it had on Noelle.

"Raine, Ivy, what's going on?" Noelle asked worriedly, making her way up the stairs. She saw the mark on Ivy's wrist and sucked in a quick breath. "Oh no, not again," she whispered.

Raine watched as Noelle wrapped her arms around their daughter, comforting her, too shocked to do anything himself. He thought they had gotten rid of the demons once Ayumu had died, but now, his son had showed up, ready to exact revenge.

"Wait," Ivy sniffled, "what do you mean again?" She looked at her mom and dad intently, unwilling to accept a half-assed answer.

Noelle glanced at Raine before answering. "Before you were born, I too was marked by a demon, by Ayumu actually. The only way to get rid of the mark is for the demon to die. He has an unbreakable connection with you."

"Is that why he can talk to me in my mind?" Ivy asked angrily. "Next time I see him I'm going to punch him so hard he's going to wish we never met!" Raine and Noelle chuckled lightly, glad that their daughter wasn't freaking out and having a hissy fit. Rather, she was dealing with the situation like any good fighter would. "Zeke said he'd marked me so that he could find me whenever he wanted," Ivy scowled. "He said he'd be back in two years!"

"Two years, why then?" Rained growled angrily. "Whatever his reasoning, he'll never make it. We'll find him before then and put a stop to this nonsense."

"What I'm curious about is why Theo never saw this coming," Noelle mused. "Usually he sees just about anything."

Ivy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Ma, you know Theo can't see either of our futures. Otherwise we'd know which one of us was going to be good and which would be bad. Duh."

"Ivy," Noelle said sharply. "You know your father and I don't believe that nonsense. Both you and Theo are good people and I would never put merit in that silly proclamation by the Pixie King." She hated seeing her two children so against each other and would do anything to convince them that neither was evil.

"Ma, everyone else believes it," Ivy pointed out. "It's okay though, I don't really care that much. Whatever happens, happens I suppose."

* * *

Theo crept back from the doorway slowly, hearing enough of the conversation to get an idea of what had happened. Apparently Ivy had been visited by a demon. He clenched his fists angrily and took a couple hurried steps backward, too distracted to notice anyone behind him. "Oof!" a warm voice that haunted his dreams said. He spun around quickly and caught Alexia before she fell, pulling her soft body against his. "Hi," she grinned guiltily.

Theo gave her a suspicious look and released her reluctantly, ignoring the part of him that wanted to reach out and pull her back into him. "What are you doing?" he asked gruffly.

"What no apology?" she teased. "Fine, I was just walking to the library," she lied easily, holding up a book to prove her point.

"The library is the other way," Theo sneered. "You were following me again, weren't you?"

Alexia looked offended at that and stood up taller. "No. I was actually following Ivy because she started hysterically screaming for Alpha Raine. You just happened to be here at the exact same time. It's not always about you, you know?" She rolled her eyes and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me..." she started to say, but froze when Theo reached out to grab her arm.

His eyes turned an icy blue color and grew distant as a vision came to him. She stood calmly and waited for it to pass, wincing when his grip tightened towards the end. When Theo came to, he glared angrily at Alexia. "Don't do it," he growled gutturally.

"Excuse me?" she said. "Don't do what? Walk away? Watch me."

Theo tightened his grip and tugged her lightly. "Denny Moore is going to ask you out. Don't you dare say yes."

"Denny?" Alexia grinned happily. "Seriously?"

A muscle ticked in Theo's jaw when he saw Alexia grin at the news. Damn it, he wasn't jealous. "Denny is an asshole and just using you to make Felicia jealous," he bit out. "He doesn't actually like you." He forced himself to keep a straight face when Alexia flinched and lost her grin.

She wrenched her arm from his grasp and glared at him. "You are an asshole, Theo," she hissed. "I hate you." With a delicate sniff she shot him one last glare and strode away angrily.

Theo watched her leave with regret and sadness, hating that he acted like such an asshole towards her. But he needed her to hate him, because what he had seen of her future...scared him. It scared him a lot and he would do anything to prevent it from happening. Anything. There was no way in hell Theo would let Alexia end up with him, she deserved way better than that and he would make sure that happened.

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next part, whenever i write that, will be two years later when Ivy and Theo are 18 years old.