The Rose and Her Thorns

Sunni quickly shushed her brother's murmuring, silently sneaking close to the swarming mob of reporters. Her hazel eyes quickly flashed amber in annoyance; the woman who'd insulted Ivy earlier was amongst the crowd. Watching these remorseless invader's of privacy swarm her family's home made the girl's skin crawl in disgust. Did no one have any sense of decency at this day in age? A wicked plan began forming in the darkest recesses of her rather twisted mind. Going into it in detail would be rather frightening, so let's suffice it to say that it involved Drake, a dead cat, and buckets of fake blood.

The teen turned towards her best friend, who crouched beside her, and grinned. "You wouldn't happen to know where Bruce keeps the theatrical makeup his ex-girlfriends left, would you?"

Tim raised an eyebrow in suspicion and replied slowly, "Yeah I do; why do you need professional makeup supplies for?"

"I've got an idea for how to get rid of these pestering leeches. So, could you get them and come over to the house around 3:00?"

Tim smirked slightly. "Sure; I'll be there by 3:15. You can fill me in on all the twisted details then. And don't tell me your plan isn't twisted or slightly psycho! I know you way too well for that crap to fly."

Without another word, the dark-haired boy darted back towards his guardian's mansion. Sunni sighed and returned to glaring at the paparazzi mob in her front yard. Just how in the hell were they supposed to sneak back in without them noticing? Eli might've been able to move faster than the speed of sound, and Camden could turn invisible, but there wasn't anything the rest of them could do to avoid being seen other than ducking low and moving quickly. She sighed. Oh well; there wasn't anything to complain about by this point other than the harassment.

Eli darted over to his elder sister, spiked red hair not moving even an inch in the breeze he created. "Hey Sunni; we should probably get home. Mom and Harl are probably worried sick."

Glaring at the leech-like television reporters one last time, Sunni nodded slowly. She turned back towards her little brothers with a slight smile forming on the corners of her lips. "Come on guys; let's go home. But be careful and don't be seen. Try and get to the back yard as quickly as possible."

The others nodded sagely. Eli went first, darting into the backyard with enough speed to make the grass sway, like what you see when a car passes the ditch. Gabe and Camden went next, the younger of the two clutching onto his elder brother's hand as he weaved between shrubberies to reach the yard. Finally, Sunni and Jasper decided to go. Growling, Sunni held Jasper tightly to her chest, dashing towards their back fence and just barely managing to reach it before someone noticed her. She sighed in relief; that was a really close call. And Ivy's threat earlier was still ringing inside her head, so that was something to be proud of.

Ziva and Akin darted out the back door, wagging their tails as they bounded towards their favorite humans. They pounced on Gabe and Camden and licked every inch of skin they could before the two boys could eventually beat them off. Sunni just chuckled, releasing Jasper's hand as she whispered that he should play with the wolves for a while. At her little brother's enthusiastic nod, she slipped inside the back door, allowing Snow, Dea, and Steel to pass by her. A grin split the teen's lips; oh how her family had grown! Action never ceased!

Fang padded silently up to his human packmate, sitting passively at her feet and pricking up his scarred ears. So how was your visit with your friend? I hear you and him caused quite a ruckus with Eddie this morning.

Sunni snickered nastily, reaching down to scratch behind the alpha male's ears. Yeah; it was kinda fun teasing the guy that's been like a Dad to me. Tim's actually coming over around three. I've got a plan to get the reporters outside to go away. Do you think you could do me a favor and kill one of those stray cats I've been seein' around outside?

But of course. You should use Drake if you really want to scare those swarming meat-sacks. He can be rather frightening when he wants to be; that, and my pup enjoys meat coming from a cat. Don't ask how I know.

Sunni raised an eyebrow. Okay; just go out through the new dog-door. And don't be seen! God knows we don't need any footage of a wolf running around in a gated community.

Without commenting, Fang stood and stretched, muscles rippling under his pelt. He gracefully loped out of the aforementioned dog-door. Sunni shook her head; there were so many things about that wolf that baffled her. But she loved him anyways. She sighed and padded down the hallway, entering the kitchen. Jonathan was making himself a sandwhich on the island, Drake curled up at his feet in a silent heap.

"Hey Jon. We're back."

The skinny man raised a thin eyebrow at his younger counterpart. "Obviously. Did you know that Ivy and Harley have found your drum studio? They told me to send you to them as soon as you got home; apparently, they want to know why you forbid anyone to enter that particular area of the house."

Sunni scowled. "Of course; I take Harl was the one who actually found it?"

Jonathan's following silence was the only confirmation the teenager needed. She rolled her eyes and brushed past the supposed Master of Fear to grab a cola from the refridgerator. As the cola hissed from its opening, she sent out a mental message to Drake. Hey D; you wanna help me scare the crap out of the leeches outside? You get to obliterate a dead cat and look bloody if that'll help convince you to help.

The large canine perked up, padding alongside Sunni when she entered the long hallway into the great room. His amber eyes shone with intelligent interest and the edges of his maw quirked up into what almost resembled a grin. Blood, fear, and dead cats? Count me in. So, when does this brilliant plan get put into action?

Around 3:30; Tim's gotta get here with all the theatrical blood around three, so it'll take me a little bit to get you just bloody enough for my satisfaction. That means afterwards you're going to look like you just mass-murdered an entire city. That also means you'll need a bath when my plan's done.

Drake sneezed loudly. Oh well; easy come, easy go. At least I can look scary for once. Your younger siblings get scared over the tiniest things.

Shaking her head, Sunni entered the great room, only to be met with Ivy's patented look-of-extreme-disapproval. She shuddered; that look sucked. It was Ivy's version of the cone of shame, and the cone of shame was BAD. A sheepish smile split her lips and she murmured, "So. . . nice weather we're having here huh?"

"Sunni Anne Amyx, why didn't you tell me that you'd forbidden anyone from going into your drum studio?"

A wince. Damn; the middle name had been used. That meant she was in deep shit. The girl looked over Ivy's shoulder at Eddie and Harley, who were watching the whole scene from the sectional, and mouthed "Help me!"

Both adults looked at each other, then back at her, and in complete unison shook their heads no. Sunni pursed her lips, mouthing back, "You cowards!"

Eddie nodded rather proudly and sat back to watch the show. Well Drake, you can leave now. If you hear a loud scream of shock and horror, remember me as I was okay?

Can do. Your mother has the tendency to scare me shitless.

Thank you for that lovely comment.

No problem.

Without further ado, Drake darted out of the room, leaving his packmate alone with her rather pissed-off adopted mother. Sunni gulped; tiptoeing around the subject wasn't her strong point, so she might as well just get it over with. She took a deep breath. "Well, I've forbidden anyone from going in there because last time I let someone, they destroyed my drum kit. And that certain someone just so happens to be dead right about now, so I would really appreciate it if we could just drop the subject Mom."

Ivy flushed a dark green, pursing her lips. Another wince from the teenager. Oh, she was so in over her head. She should've just stopped after the hint about her long-dead dad. But surprisingly, no screaming came. Opening her hazel eyes, Sunni yelped like a whooped dog when she realized that Ivy was mere millimeters away from the end of her nose. Bright emerald gems glared angrily at her, followed by a low, even voice that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"Sunni, you should tell me about stuff like this. I might not be your biological mother, but I sure as hell care enough about stuff like that. Next time, come and talk to me about it, and I won't be forced to scare the ever-loving crap out of you to get the real answer. Am I being perfectly clear?"

Sunni stared at the older women with wide doe-eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

A smirk. "Good girl. Now, have you figured out a way to get those reporters out of the front yard yet? I'm starting to get a headache from all the yelling."

The teenager's formerly meek attitude was replaced by an evil giggle. Amber flashed momentarily in her eyes as she said, "Yep. Tim's coming over at around three to bring all the supplies we need to make the blood-suckers leave. Just make sure that Howard, Miles, and Hayden are all upstairs when it goes into action; blood has a tendency to freak them out."

Harley stood from her position on the couch, a frown creasing itself around her baby blues. "What're you talkin' about? No one around here's bleeding."

Sunni grinned, flopping onto a huge loveseat with her hands behind her head. "I'm going to use a wolf, fake blood, and a dead cat to get my point across. And believe me, this is going to be the most fun I've had in forever."

Eddie gulped loudly at the predatory look in the girl's now-amber eyes. Those reporters might've been irritating and all, but damn if he didn't feel sorry for the poor bastard who Sunni got a hold of.

I'M BACK BITCHES!

It's a New Year, a new chapter, and a whole crapload of inspiration for this story. Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while, but I ran into a total bastard case of writer's block. Forgive me! And on that lovely note, I need to tell you that after all these reporters get scared shit-less, there will be a much happier time in Amyxland. I'm actually going to be using an idea given to me by a very dear reviewer of mine, so you'll have to be patient, as I'll check and recheck my work until it's so freakin' perfect, it's not even funny.

Well, place your reviews by pressing the blue button that says "review" in the page's crotch, and I hope you liked the chapter!

Lots of maniacal Sunni-love,

BlackRosePoetry