Alex dashed himself into the library of the family house, hoping to find Kaylee in her favorite spot and he wasn't disappointed. Damien was there also and when Alex appeared suddenly the demon nearly had him peeing his pants with just a threatening look.
"Calm down please." Alex said as he looked from his cousin to his..... Oh jeeze... A sudden thought occurred to Alex when he looked at Damien again. If he and Angelica were to be a couple then Damien would essentially be his step son. Alex felt his knees trembling when he realized he was about to ask this deadly demon to take him to his mother because his mother was Alex's mate. So much for a no violence lifestyle. He was probably going to have to fight for his life once Damien realized what was going on.
"What are you doing here, Alex? I thought you went back to California?" Kaylee said as Damien relaxed and sat back down on the oversized arm chair beside her.
"I uh.. I need to talk to him." Alex said pointing at Damien.
"Me?" Damien asked. He had never met Alex before today and couldn't figure out why the man would want to talk to him.
"Yeah. Alone." he added with a pointed look at his cousin. Kaylee nodded and reluctantly stood up.
"I'll just go get a snack." she said and she left the room. Alex looked back at Damien and cleared his throat.
"I need a favor."
"Why should I do you a favor? I don't even know you." Damien replied. He couldn't see how any problem Alex had would be his problem.
"Well it's about your mom." Alex replied and just saying those words felt wrong. Fate had really dealt him a low blow. Damien raised a brow and looked suddenly more interested.
"What about my mom?"
"I need to talk to her."
"She's gone. She went back to her house in Montana." Damien replied.
"I know." Alex said with a nod as he rubbed his suddenly itchy palm on his jeans. "I uh.. I want you to take me there so I can talk to her."
"Why?" Damien asked as he stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. Alex looked the demon in the eye since they were roughly the same height but Damien was clearly much more muscular than he was.
"Because she's uh... she's my mate and I need to talk to her." Alex whispered this, hoping against hope that the demon wouldn't understand. The look on Damien's face was nearly enough to have Alex dashing to the farthest corner of hell just to hide from him.
"What?" Damien demanded and Alex nodded.
"You heard me." he said, doing his best tough guy impression. Damien crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the skinny, strange looking wolf. He didn't know anything about this man. Would this man hurt his mother? Surely he wouldn't want to be romantically involved with her. Damien cared about his mother but knew that there was no way a man would ever look at her with passion.
"You've met my mother haven't you?" Damien asked cautiously and Alex nodded.
"Yes." he swallowed hard, "I've met your mother."
"And yet you still want to see her again?" Damien asked and Alex nodded.
"Yes."
"I will take you." Damien said. It wasn't his business how Alex felt about what kind of mate he had and it wasn't his business how his mother would react to learning she had a mate. He was having a hard enough time figuring out his own emotions and keeping up with Kaylee's to worry about anyone elses.
"Can you not tell Kaylee about this. I'm not ready for the whole family to know yet." Damien nodded.
"I'll keep your secret." he promised and then he grabbed Alex's hand and dashed him to the clearing his mother's cabin sat in, deep in the pine forests of Montana.
"Rustic." Alex said looking around and Damien shrugged.
"She doesn't trust people." he replied. "Do you want me to walk you to the door?"
"No that's okay, big guy," Alex replied. "I got it from here." Damien let out a sigh of relief and then stepped back.
"Good luck." he said and then the air shimmered and he was gone.
"Thanks, I'm gonna need it." Alex said to the empty space where Damien had been standing seconds ago. He ran his hand through his green hair, smoothed out his baggy black t-shirt and then walked slowly up to the door, with the sounds of his rattling chains filling the air. He took his time as he walked to the door, as if he were walking to his death and wanting to savor every last second of life before his time came.
He knocked on the door and heard a feminine scream come from inside. Acting purely on wolf instincts he kicked open the door and ran into the cabin only to find himself face to face with the barrel of a twelve gauge shotgun.
"Don't shoot me!" he said to Angelica, who was at the other end of the gun and looking scared to death as she stared at him.
"You.... What are you doing here?" she demanded, without lowering the gun.
"I came to visit." Alex replied. Angelica looked beside her as if someone was standing there.
"I don't know why he's here either.... Yes I know I should shoot him right in the head for bursting in here.... He scared me too." Talking to her 'friends' was something she did whenever she was uncomfortable. She wasn't a psychiatrist or else she would know it came from centuries of isolation.
"Uh.. Right... Are you going to shoot me or...?" Alex asked, he didn't find it too weird that she had just talked to no one. After all the woman claimed to talk to peas so it made perfect sense that she would talk to air too. Angelica considered shooting him for a moment but then decided she had worked too hard to get her house clean, to stain the carpet with his blood and she sat the gun down, leaning it against the wall.
"Have a seat." Angelica said, remembering her manners. "Would you like some tea?"
"Tea?" Alex asked with a frown. He'd never had tea before.
"I'll just get you a cup and you can try it." Angelica said waving her hand dismissively. Alex sat down on a small sofa and watched her shuffle on her thin legs through the kitchen. She actually looked better than he remembered. Not hot, not even beautiful, not with those ugly scars, but her face seemed fuller somehow. Less sunken in and skinny... Maybe her body was beginning to heal a little, the way his grandpa had said it would.
She came into the small living room and handed him a cup, and he was careful to keep their hands from brushing when he took it from her. She sat down in a chair across from him and smoothed out her dark blue moo moo dress and he wondered why she always wore such ugly clothes.
"We weren't expected any company today." Angelica said matter of factly before blowing her tea and taking a drink.
"We?" Alex asked and a blush colored Angelica's scar covered cheeks.
"Me. I wasn't expecting any company." Alex took a sip of the tea and realized it wasn't that bad. It had a sweet taste that filled his senses, but couldn't overpower the scent of vanilla that was filling his nostrils.
"I came by because I wanted to check on you." Alex said finding that he suddenly felt awkward. He had never been the type to not know what to say but right now he was feeling pretty lost.
"Why?" Angelica asked.
"Huh?"
"Why would you want to check on me?" Angelica was confused by this man. She was drawn to him which was a big deal for her, seeing as how she trusted no one except her son. She liked being near him, though she couldn't remember his name. There was something about his presence that made her feel more at peace than she had felt in nearly a thousand years.
"Well uh... that's kinda hard to explain." Alex replied as he picked at the fringes on the red throw pillow next to him. He looked around the tidy little cabin and wondered if he should tell her the truth. What if she expected him to touch her and feel passion for her once she knew he was her mate. There was no way he could do that and so maybe it was safer not to tell her.
"Try to explain it. I'm smarter than most people think." Angelica replied as she took another sip of her tea.
"You..... intrigued me." was all Alex said in reply and this left Angelica feeling even more confused. Since when were people intrigued by her? Scared of her, yes. Felt pity for her, yes. Acted as if she had a disease because of her scars, yes. But intrigued... that wasn't a word she heard very often.
"So, have your peas had anything interesting to say lately?" Alex asked with a smile. Angelica felt her last remaining fear of him melt away at the sight of his smile. It was a friendly smile. An open smile. It wasn't guarded like Damien's smiles or cold the way Victor and Rotans had always been. There was no pity in his blue eyes either. He simply looked like a nice guy who had wanted to check on her.
"Peas don't talk." she replied matter of factly. Alex's smile grew wider. Why was he smiling? He wasn't sure. There was something about Angelica. An innocence and a goodness that was infectious to him and all he could do was smile.
"That's not what you said the other day. You said your pea said something funny and it made you laugh." This time Angelica smiled and the smile surprised her. It was her first real smile in centuries.
"I was imagining what my peas would say if they could talk, which they can't."
"Thank goodness. For a while there I was worried that you were crazy."
"I'm not crazy." Angelica replied quickly and Alex could hear the defensiveness in her tone. Clearly she believed that she was normal and he wasn't about to argue with her. The wolf in him was finally content and satisfied and he wasn't going to do anything to make it start whining again.
"No, having imaginary conversations with your vegetables is completely normal." he said with a good natured grin and Angelica laughed.
"It's more normal than having bright green hair." she countered.
"Hey, the chicks dig my hair." Alex replied while patting it. It was hanging down to his ears, soft and flat, since he hadn't styled it.
"Chicks? Why would chickens like your hair?" Alex laughed and then realized that she was serious.
"Women... Not chickens." he replied.
"Why would you call women, chicks."
"Not all women." Alex said shaking his head and taking another drink of tea. "Attractive women."
"Oh." that simple word was flat and full of unmasked pain and Alex mentally kicked himself when Angelica ran her hand over her face. He was smarter than to say something like that. Hell he'd been raised in a whole house full of women!
Angelica looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was getting very late.
"It's time for my show." she said matter of factly.
"What show is that?" Alex asked, thankful that she had changed the subject.
"Jeopardy." Angelica replied as she grabbed the remote control and turned on the small tv on the wall.
"You watch jeopardy?" he asked and Angelica nodded.
"I do." she said. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"Nope." Alex replied. He settled back on the couch and the two of them sat in a comfortable silence as they watched the show. When it ended, Alex felt like a complete dumbass and he learned that Angelica was actually very very smart. Judging by the number of books covering the house she liked to read as well and he couldn't help but wonder if she had seen his families library.
"Why did you leave the big house?" Alex asked her. Angelica picked at her dress and chewed her lip before replying.
"I didn't like it there anymore. Everyone treated me like they felt sorry for me and like I was stupid."
"Seeing as how you just thoroughly kicked my skinny butt at jeopardy, I think it's safe to say you're not stupid." Alex replied. "And surely you can see why people automatically feel sorry for you when they see you."
"My scars." she said and the words were so quiet that Alex would not have heard them if not for his wolf hearing. Seeing her frown was not something he liked. Her smile had been nice. It took away some of the harshness that the scars gave her and it had made her blue eyes sparkle.
"I got a scar too." Alex said matter of factly. He lifted his shirt sleeve to show her the large splattering of burn scars on his arm where Laney had spilled hot grease on him when they'd been kids. Since he hadn't been sixteen yet and his immortal healing had not been fully developed the burn had left a scar. "I say to wear 'em like a badge showing just how badass you are."
"Badass?"
"Tough."
"I am not tough." Angelica looked beside her again and Alex knew she was about to talk to someone he couldn't see. "He is not weird.... I like him... It's nice to have a friend other than you... You always say bad things about everyone...."
"Your friend doesn't sound very nice." Alex interrupted and she blushed. The talking to imaginary friends thing was weird but for some reason it suited her. It almost seemed normal when she did it. Alex looked at the clock and saw that it was getting close to ten at night.
"I guess I should go." Alex said even as the wolf in him rebelled against the idea.
"Okay. Will you...." Angelica stopped and looked suddenly embarrassed.
"Will I what?" Alex asked.
"Come visit me again. I don't have any friends."
"Then who were you just talking to?" Alex teased with a smile. For some reason his teasing didn't upset her the way most people's did. When he teased her it made her smile.
"I don't have any real friends." she amended.
"When do you want me to come?" he asked.
"I could cook us lunch tomorrow." Angelica said thinking of the fresh baked ham in the refrigerator that would make good sandwiches. Alex smiled and stood up. Angelica stood too and walked him to the door. She looked up at him since he was a good foot taller than she was and wrung her hands nervously.
"Thank you for coming." she said. "It feels nice to have a friend. What is your name anyway?"
"Alex and a friend I can be." Alex replied with a wink. He felt bad about not telling her the truth but the thought of touching her the way she would expect a mate to just didn't seem like something he could do. Angelica watched him walk out into the darkness and then she quickly shut her door and locked the many locks she had covering it. Luckily when Alex had come earlier she had just walked back into her house and had none of the locks done so he hadn't destroyed her door when he'd kicked it in.
She couldn't figure out what it was about the weird looking man that made her feel so comfortable and at ease but she was thankful for it. It would be so nice to have a friend she could talk to that would actually talk back.
'He can't keep you safe from me, dear Angelica. I will always be right here in your head.' Angelica shivered and wrapped her arms tight around herself at the sound of Victor's voice. She walked back to her bedroom, leaving her lights on as she went. The darkness scared her and she never turned her lights off. She curled up under her covers and tried to think of her new friend to keep the nightmares away but the moment she fell asleep, Rotan was there with his knife and her screams were filling the air.
888
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Alex demanded when he dashed back to his California apartment and found Todd and Tony and the three girls from the other night playing a game of pool.
"I thought you said he wasn't coming back until Saturday?" Tony demanded of Todd.
"He said Saturday." Todd replied with a shrug.
"This is my house. I can come and go as I please." Alex said, it wasn't like him to have a temper but he was tired.
"Come have some fun with us." Tony said. "The girls here were beating us pretty good."
"No, I'm tired."
"How'd things go?" Todd asked and Alex shrugged.
"They went." he replied. "I'm going to bed. You guys better keep the noise down out here and Todd, don't forget to close the curtains before you both crash out because I would hate to be vacuuming your ash up in the morning."
Candy stepped away from the pool table and walked toward him. She licked her glossy lower lip and laid her hand on her tight, tan stomach.
"How about you show me that microphone again?" she asked breathlessly. Alex was confused when he looked at her because instead of being turned on by her, her fakeness disgusted him.... Oh lord, finding his mate had turned him gay.
"Not tonight, Candy. I'm going to bed... Alone." He added pointedly and then he turned and went into his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him.