Remnant Of The Gods

Chapter 26

My head shot up when the gate clicked open and shut again. I coiled, bracing myself for the unknown as Demetrious lay peacefully underneath me. There was no knock as a sign of this new intruders presence, just the ghost-like distorted shape of his form trying to look through the frosted glass beside the door.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" the masculine voice pitched high in earnest.

I looked down to Demetrious. "Is it safe?" I whispered quietly, trying not to be heard by an unknown man at the door. Demetrious got up from his position, walking through the wall as I huffed in annoyance, now what was I meant to do? The continual rapping and calling at the door had me glaring at the man until Demetrious re-appeared though the wall.

The man hold no arms nor any blades. It is safe, though if he tries anything I can intimidate him if need be. A sharp tooth appeared on the hound as he lifted a lip to display his unnaturally large teeth and I grinned at him in return.

"I don't think that will be necessary but tell me if he does anything," I shook my head at his small joke, or at least what I had hoped was a joke. "-and try not to walk through anything."

Heading towards the door Demetrious remained at my heels, as I tried to remain as calm as possible and ran through all of the possible candidates of strange men calling at this hour. By the time I reached the door, I couldn't fathom a single person and hesitated with my hand on the door knob just as the man appeared at the window again.

He seemed to catch my form through the window as he waved at me. "Hello?! Can you open the door please?"

With one look at Demetrious I slowly opened the door to reveal a man around my age with a friendly smile, who took half a step back in fear when Demetrious poked his head out from around my legs. The man composed himself and offered his hand, still managing a friendly smile while continuously glancing at Demetrious. This strangers hesitation at Demetrious made me smile despite myself.

"Uh, Ale- miss? Miss Whitesmith?" he said, gauging my reaction. I kept my face blank.

"Who are you?" the sharpness of my tone cutting off his ogling and had Demetrious showing a few teeth at the intruder.

"Uh, you may not remember me Miss Whitesmith but we met some time ago," his staring continued as I shifted uncomfortable at his intense gaze. "My name's Ander," he grinned.

Ander looked around when I did not return his grin or shake his hand, he then rocked back and forth on his heels as an uncomfortable silence fell. I tried to place where we had met the first time, filtering through the few people from school, someone from the funerals from my parents but it eluded me. Staring at him, my eyes were drawn to his hair, sensing a form of familiarity as I placed where the same light-coloured hair was bent over, hiding the man's face from view when it hit me.

"You were the paramedic," I said quietly, remembering as he tried to bring Simon back to life.

Ander's gaze reached mine and he nodded mutely, returning to the state where he stared at me unashamed which irritated me to no end. I cleared my throat loudly and cocked an eyebrow in question.

"So, why are you here?" I asked when he didn't seem to respond to my subtle attempt at eye contact.

He scratched his shaking head and stared for a few more moments until he responded. "Sorry, its just weird seeing you after so long, I actually didn't even know if you were still alive." He said apologetically and looked around him.

Raised to be polite may just be the death of me as I inched backwards, and stood back from the door permitting him entry. Thankfully there was still someone who had a clear head as Demetrious slid out before the man could enter. Demetrious' lip was still curled as he pretended to sniff Ander but I knew him better than that, he was testing the man. Even in this form, Demetrious looked larger than any dog and he had changed his features to a more wolf-like demeanor rather than that of a german shepherd or a husky. The jet-black coat helped his fearceness as he circled the man. To his credit, Ander stood incredibly still during his inspection, though a small trickle of sweat ran down his forehead when his eyes met Demetrious'.

I felt a spark of familiarity when I saw the man panic and I couldn't quite place it. I had no idea what he was doing outside of my front door but the man was a doctor and we were always told to trust doctors right?

I snickered to myself and tapped my leg twice laughing hysterically at what Demetrious was about to suffer through.

"Here boy, c'mon who's a good boy. C'mon!" I called to him, desperately holding in a burst of laughter when he rounded on me with a look.

You will pay dearly for that. Ander looked between my and the dogs so I added for his sake.

"We are working on commands, he will usually just come, just-err- on his own terms."

Demetrious trotted to my side as I waved Ander in, patting the black dogs head vigorously, being careful to avoid his fresh scars that were hidden under his new disguise.

"Your dog sure is scary," Ander piped up, still being careful to avoid Demetrious' direct path. "He seems to listen to you at least, I'm thankful he didn't attack me back there- whoahhh." he stopped in the entranceway and raised his arms above him at the sight. You'd think he had never seen a house before. The house was large for this area, being a more prime real estate but I didn't think it looked too fancy.

"I'm sorry, I have been coming here for the last few months looking for you, you know. Naturally curious and all I never expected the inside to look so spacious" At this I stopped and swivelled, facing him down as he rambled on.

"Why?" I demanded, Demetrious bristling up beside me in defence, was this man stalking me?

"Everyone, well after what happened to Simon and Sandra, it was thought you were umm dead?" He said, beginning to stare at me once more in awe.

They thought I was dead?

He continued, as I absorbed what I could. "Well, because. After the incident at the house everyone assumed you had died as well as no-one had heard from you." He looked around, taking in the layers of dust on the furniture, stroking a finger through the thick coating. "I've been looking for you because, well, you were in my charge. One minute you were sitting in the back of my ambulance, the next you were gone."

I moved off to the living room and slumped back into the corner of the couch that had a similar shape indented to match my body perfectly. Ander followed in behind Demetrious who sat in front of my legs, laying down in a fashion that allowed him to leap at a moment's notice.

"So, why would it matter to you if I was alive or dead?" I said bluntly and watched as Ander's eyes hardened and his cheeks reddened, "Or anyone for that matter."

Ander's guarded expression broke when I voiced my internal thoughts and his gaze looked towards me with pity, making me grind my teeth in irritation. I didn't need pity from anyone, after all, with a hellhound by my side, I had fared pretty well thinking back. Except from the constant travel sickness, the motel, my arm...

"I wasn't the only one looking for you, the policeman who was investigating your guardian Tony's death almost caught up with you. He found your car at some hotel off the interstate which was burn-out with several parts missing." he trailed off. A few moments of silence passed as I thought about this.

"There is clearly no need to look for me now, I suppose. Since I am now of legal age I can take up my mother's residence," I said, looking around me tenderly, "I thank you for your concern but it wasn't necessary, I have managed just fine on my own."

Not entirely. I smiled down at Demetrious as his tail lifted in a small wag and flopped back down almost as if he had realised what he had almost done.

"I can see that," Ander said slowly, looking from Demetrious to myself and back. "Given the trauma you have been through in such a short span of time I also wanted to see how you were coping."

My hand ran absentmindedly over the barely-visible scars on my arm from Demetrious' bite and gave a weak smile to Ander. I felt like I could trust this man, but given the recent attempts on my life it seemed that opening up to a stranger was impossible.

"You can trust me," he said softly. The timing of it was just a little too close to my thoughts for my liking. I was only knew to this other world but that instantly had my neck hairs prickling. My gaze lifted to his, locking my eyes to his swirling grey-blue orbs, the feeling of being drawn in hit me and I swiftly broke eye contact. Demetrious twitched underneath me but made no move towards the stranger.