Book 2 Chapter 44 - Friends, Family, and Which Want You Dead

There are a lot of reasons someone might defend you from an abuser.
Not all of them are magnanimous.

Never make the mistake of believing the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

Sometimes your enemies just fucking hate each other.
—Aubrey Clarke, Attributed

“Um, hi,” Violet said.

“Violet Asher, was it? I don't believe I got your last name before. My apologies. That was quite the oversight,” Samuel said. 

“I’m sorry, I don't think I know you,” Violet responded.

“Dad?” Kiera asked. Her voice rang out from behind Violet like a bell in an empty room. “Dad, what are you doing here?” 

“Oh, this is the one, is it?” Violet asked, looking over her shoulder at the clearly distraught fox. She turned back toward Samuel with a far less friendly look on her face. “Yeah, I’m gonna have to ask you to fuck off. I’ve heard enough about you to know you have no business with my friend.”

Samuel's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked down at Violet. Then, he looked past her and at his daughter. “It seems we’ve both misjudged your friend here, sweetheart. I thought she was just a girl. Sweet and innocent, like you. But she's not a very good influence, is she?” He put one hand on Violet’s shoulder and pushed her out of the way, walking into the room in the same motion.

She had little chance of pushing back and bumped against the wall on her right as he forced his way in. Her sore muscles groaned at the treatment, but she barely noticed. The insult alone was enough to conjure murderous images, and she didn't bother to keep them from her eyes. He’d passed her by anyway, and the needles she glared landed on his back. She immediately activated her new talent. The beating in her chest slowed the moment the information flooded her mind.

She was going to kill this man by the end of the night.

“Dad, you can't come in here!” Kiera protested, her voice rising to a pitch Violet had never heard.

“Sweetie, I am here to help you. As I have always been. You’ve been without treatment for far too long. I’ll get Bouvier's approval to move you out of the dorms and to an apartment where I can look after you. But you must come with me,” Samuel said.

Violet deactivated her talent as Samuel finished speaking. She had what she needed, and that meant she could focus on the crisis at hand.

“She doesn't want you here, asshat. Now get out of our room before we call someone to remove you. Or did you think you could just walk into a girl's home and do as you please?” Violet threatened.

Samuel sighed with disappointment. “This isn't about you, Miss Asher. I am sorry that we couldn't be friends, as I’d hoped. And I’m sorry you don't seem to care for my daughter as much as you implied. It hurts my heart to know you would risk her life like you did. Especially when I trusted you to help her. But you’ve made your choice, and you are no longer relevant to our family affairs,” he replied, only glancing over his shoulder at Violet.

“What is he talking about, Vi?” Kiera asked with a confused tremor in her voice. She backed away from her father while speaking. As she did, she stumbled and landed in a sitting position on the bed.

Violet followed Samuel into the room and shook her head. “I don't really know, but I guess that’s no surprise considering what you’ve told me about him,” Violet answered. Then, she redirected her attention to the intruder. “I don't care what you are trying to do here. Kiera's too smart for it, and I think you know that. So this is my final warning. Leave, or I’ll call campus security and have you arrested.”

Samuel sighed again. “I’m sorry, Violet. But I know you won't. I understand that you already tried that. At the expense of your classmates, too. How ‘Asher’ of you. But I wasn't arrested then. Because I am innocent of trying to hurt anyone. And we both know a father will not be arrested for visiting his sick daughter,” he dismissed. 

“We know that, do we?” Violet challenged.

“We do. As you know, my potions save lives. You took one yourself, didn’t you? Your entire team did, I’m told. It’s why you made it back safe. The police will see me the same way your academy does. The same way everyone does who isn’t sick… in one way or another. A worried parent, and the reason children didn’t die out in the mist. Now, if you’ll excuse us, this really is a private conversation,” Samuel said. He then turned toward Kiera, who’d crawled to the back of the bed and was idly gripping her own tail to her chest. “You’re confused, honey. I know I told you not to trust the Asher family, didn’t I? She’s been lying to you.”

Kiera looked at her father, then at Violet again. Violet maintained a mildly confused but mostly furious look. She couldn’t see Samuel’s expression, but she could picture it. He’d tried the same fatherly look of concern on her, after all. Kiera seemed to be struggling to make sense of the world as she looked between her father and her new friend. It made sense, considering what Violet had learned about the kitsune’s talent. She caught Kiera’s eye, but she made no effort to plead with the girl to believe in her. Verbally or otherwise. Instead, she allowed Samuel to continue speaking.

“Look at me. Look me in the eyes, and remember. Remember our family. Your mom. So beautiful and brilliant even as she was dying. Remember how much I have always loved you, and what lengths I have gone to keep you happy. Remember how you felt before I started treating you,” he begged. “I’m not angry. I understand how that boy tricked you. How he confused you. I’m not angry at him, either. I’m upset, of course. I hate how he took advantage of you. But your health matters more to me than the vices of teenage boys. I will not let you pass like your mother did. Whatever it takes, Kiera. I am going to save you. So please. I am begging you. Believe in our family again. Come with me. And I will make you better, or I will die trying.”

Violet growled internally, even as she policed her face. He knew. He fucking knew. The same thing Violet had just learned. That Kiera was self-medicating with her talent. That she was creating illusions in her very soul, and that she’d finish and reinforce even weak lies. So long as they came from someone she desperately wanted to trust. He must have always known, and he was forcing her to choose. To decide which lie she would create. Would she decide to trust Violet against all evidence? Would she choose the girl she’d only just met? Violet Asher, with a name Kiera had spent her entire life being taught to distrust. Or would she decide to believe her father, and create an illusion that she wasn’t in danger, and never had been? She could only do one, realistically. Even her own illusions wouldn’t fool her if they contradicted each other. 

Violet’s blood boiled at the realization. She may have used the talent against Kiera. But she’d done it for her friend’s sake, rather than her own. But Samuel only cared about controlling Kiera. He was worse than Violet in every way.

“She… She gave us her own potions. Not yours. Everyone who took yours was paralyzed. We’d… We’d be dead if we drank your potions, Dad. I would be dead. Like Mom. You would have killed me like you killed Mom,” Kiera finally answered.

“Oh, Kiera,” Samuel replied with a condescending sigh. “You’ve always been so gullible. I have tried so hard to teach you, but I suppose it’s my fault. I should have found a way to let you see more of the world in person, so you wouldn’t be so easily drawn in by it. So I’m sorry. It will hurt to hear this, but your friend lied to you.”

Kiera looked at her father with eyes like broken glass, and again shifted to Violet. The reaper didn’t wear even a hint of guilt, shame, or the type of worry unique to those caught in a lie. She simply had a furrowed brow and a frown. She also had her arms crossed and her tongue in her cheek, like she was trying to solve a problem. If she was going to give Kiera any impression at all, it would be that she was angry at Samuel for the intrusion and manipulation, and unfamiliar with his story.

“I don’t think—” Kiera started, only to be interrupted by the gentle voice of a violent man.

“She was supposed to fool you into taking your medicine. It was a poor idea, I understand that now. But I suppose I have a little of that gullibility in me myself. Or maybe your friend reminded me of you with the way she presented herself. But I accepted her plan. I was just so desperate to get you the care you needed, and I’m ashamed of how I did it, but...” He trailed off and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He let the moment marinate the emotion he was projecting, then finished telling his story. “Well. I didn’t know she was an Asher. I thought she was just a girl. I warned her. I warned her that more than one dose would result in paralysis. She must have meant to slander me by risking the other students’ lives. Thank God nothing happened, and those poor students weren’t quite as easily swayed as my own family,” he explained.

Kiera shook her head. “You didn’t see how she fought, Dad. How desperate she was to keep everyone safe. You didn’t see how much pain she was willing to take, just so no one else around her would get hurt. As long as I’ve known her. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t hurt the other students,” she denied.

Violet looked at the fox with a hint of embarrassment and allowed tears to build in the corners of her eyes. She let her anger melt away as it was replaced with gratitude, which Kiera drank in and fed to her own confidence.

“Maybe so. But... I told the police what you did, Kiera. Because I hoped I’d be able to reach you more quickly that way. Not because I want you in prison. But to keep you safe until I could find you. And Violet. Violet wanted you to be safe, as you said. Maybe she does care about you, as you claim. Then eliminating me, in her eyes, would keep you safe. Maybe the guilt made her fight harder. I don’t know. But why doesn’t matter. I can prove it,” Samuel insisted. 

Kiera paused, some of her confidence waning. “No. No, you can’t,” she insisted, looking Violet in the eyes rather than her father. 

Samuel sighed again. “She gave you replacement potions, didn’t she? Something you could trust? That’s what I meant when I said you’d tried my potion. I gave those to her, Kiera. And she gave them to you, after using your medicine on everyone else. Do you still have one?” he said.

Kiera glanced at her bag, and that was answer enough. Even if her words didn’t confirm or deny it, one of the potions was there. “She bought those,” Kiera whispered.

Samuel casually walked to the bag, picking it up and tossing it at her. Kiera caught it, and her ears flattened against her head. “My initials are engraved in the bottom of the glass, Kiera. Just... trust me. If they aren’t there, then you can call me a liar. I still won’t be angry with you. I will leave you in peace, and I will prepare to grieve your loss. So just this one last time. Check. Please,” he said.

Kiera paused, offered Violet an apologetic look, then opened the bag and pulled one of the potions out. She looked at the bottom. Samuel looked at the potion. And Violet looked at Samuel’s back. 

“This is the logo for a local shop, Dad,” Kiera answered after a long, violent silence. It wasn’t a result of her self-deception. The logo was exactly what Violet had expected. She’d bought the potions exactly as she’d claimed, using a stipend from Cyan. Exactly as she’d claimed. There had never been a chance that she was ever using a single potion provided by Samuel Mulberry. Not even the supposedly safe ones.

“Are you done trying to kill my friend?” Violet finally asked. “Because if so, I would like to again politely request that you get the fuck out of our home.”

Samuel finally looked back at Violet. Even after this, he looked sad and disappointed, with only a hint of anger in his eyes.

“Very well. I’m sorry, Kiera,” he said, his eyes still locked on Violet. “But I won’t let you die. So I’ll need to resort to my original plan. I know prison will be scary. But you won’t be there long. Not once you’ve had your medicine, and you are in your right mind again. I’ll leave for now.”

He shoved Violet again as he left, this time with his shoulder. Violet swiveled with the push and winked at him as he turned one final time. Then, she closed the door in his face, and Kiera started to sob.