Chapter Five
Rogue got to the library and waited on the front steps for Remy. He wasn't late, yet, but it was pretty chilly out and she wished he'd hurry up. She was about to check her watch, when she heard a commotion from down the street. She took off at a run, her X-Men training kicking in.
She discovered Remy in an ally way, holding a long staff, with three bodies at his feet and a child of perhaps 9 or 10 with blue hair, peeking out from behind a dumpster. He had a black eye and a graze on his cheek.
"Remy, what happened here?" She asked.
"It's not what you think," Remy tried to plead, afraid that she would think the worst of him. His attention was diverted when the little blue haired boy tugged on his sleeve.
"Petite?"
"We should go before they wake up," the boy said.
Remy looked around at the fallen bodies, knowing that some of them would get up fairly soon.
"Sure thing. Where's your Mom?"
"At home."
"Do you know where you live?" he asked.
The boy nodded and recited his street address. Remy took his hand and led him from the alley, suddenly remembering. "I didn't bring a spare helmet for the bike, and mine's way too big."
"We can take the X-Van," Rogue assured him, pleased that she had decided to drive to the library, rather than walking from the cinema.
The drive was quick and quiet and Rogue watched as Remy led the boy to his front door. After the mother had hugged her son and made sure he was all right, she and Remy had a brief conversation and Remy returned to the car.
They drove in silence for a while, until Rogue stopped the car at the side of the road and turned to Remy. She couldn't understand why he was so quiet.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, Rogue," he said, keeping his eyes averted.
"Sorry that you saved a kid from three nearly adult bullies? I'm not."
"But what I did to them..."
"I would have done too!" she took his hand in hers, causing him to look up at her.
"That blonde boy? His name is Duncan, and he made our lives at school hell. He deserved everything you did to him and if you hadn't come along, who knows what they might have done to that poor kid."
He had thought that once she saw the violence that he was capable of, that she would turn against him. He tried not to kill, ever, but he couldn't stop the beast within from rising when he saw someone in trouble.
"You're really okay with it?"
Rogue smiled. "I really am."
"Okay." Remy found an answering smile. "So, what did you want to do tonight?"
"How about we go to your place?"
"My place?" He thought of the blood bags that were currently residing in his cooler.
"Yeah, you've seen my room, I want to see yours."
"Rogue, I'm not sure that's such a good idea." He couldn't believe it, he had downed two bags of blood before he left the house, more than he usually ate in two days, but he still wanted Rogue as much, maybe even more than ever. The idea of being alone with her right now was terrifying!
She looked crestfallen.
"No, chère, Rogue, I mean... God knows I want you, in fact I want you so bad that if we're alone, I might not be able to-"
"We're alone now," she pointed out. "And besides, I want you too."
"I think that maybe, we should slow things down a little. Last night was my fault, I know that, but I don't want to treat you that way."
"What way?"
Remy needed to get away from her intoxicating scent, so he got out of the car and leaned up against a wall, taking deep lungfuls of clean air.
Rogue came and stood beside him, but at least her scent wasn't so intoxicating now that they weren't in a confined space.
"You make me feel things I've never felt before," he confessed. "I want you so bad it hurts, but I want to be a gentleman, to take things slowly."
"I want you too, Remy. I never thought I'd be easy but apparently you bring it out in me. I can't help wanting you. I even dreamed about you."
He gave her a sharp look. "What did you dream?"
"About us, that we were together and... making love. And there were hundreds of candles everywhere, like some kind of fairytale."
They'd had the same dream, he realised. He couldn't deny it any longer, she was 'the one' and neither of them would be satisfied until they had sated that particular need.
The trouble was, Remy had been born in a different age. His need for blood ensured that he wasn't squeamish about sex before marriage but women you were serious about, they were different, they should be treated with respect. Honoured. Worshipped.
His carnal nature, though, screamed at him to take her, any how, any where.
As usual, his human side and his inner demon were at war, but never before had the conflict been so strong.
"Let's walk," he suggested, taking her hand and just heading off in a random direction.
He wanted to ask about her past, about what had made her the woman she was today but he knew that if he did, she would ask about his past in return and he didn't want to lie to her, so he kept quiet.
"What kind of music do you like?" Rogue asked out of the blue.
"What? Oh, uh, mainly jazz and blues, some older R&B, a little classical now and again. You?"
"Mostly rock, like, uh," she reeled off a list of names, most of whom Remy had never heard of.
"What about movies?" he asked.
"Well that's easy, superhero movies!" she said with a wink.
Remy laughed. "Don't tell, me you want to be like Superman when you grow up?"
"I already am, kinda. Except for the goody-two-shoes thing."
Remy gave her an odd look and she smiled, pleased that she could be mysterious too. She knew he wasn't charming this information out of her; she felt like she had to tell him all about herself, everything, from her psycho adopted mother, to Xavier and the institute.
"Have you ever heard of the X-Men?"
"Yeah, I seen them mentioned on the news before, why?"
"I'm an X-Man."
He stopped and turned to face her. "You're kidding me?"
"Nope." She couldn't understand why he seemed so shocked.
Well, Remy's dilemma just got better and better. First he was taking the innocence from a teenager, but now he was actually considering converting one of the good guys to the dark side.
His soul was doomed.
"I'm sorry, Rogue, but I just can't do this any more."
"What?!" She couldn't figure out where things had gone so wrong. Why was he pushing her away when he seemed as into this as she was.
"This is wrong."
"Why?" she demanded.
"Because I'm wrong, chère. You deserve someone who can be with you in the sun, but all I'll do is lead you into darkness."
"I don't understand." Why was this happening? Was it because she was easy? Should she have continued playing hard to get (not that she had been playing, Remy really had annoyed her when they first met).
"No, chère, you are everything I'm not, everything that's good and right. I'm no good for someone like you."
"Why won't you tell me what you mean?"
"Because I couldn't stand to see the repulsion in your eyes. I'm sorry, Rogue, more than I can say, but this is wrong."
Rogue looked away from him as tears stung her eyes. She didn't want him to see that he'd hurt her.
"Fine. Go, see if I care!"
She turned to glare but saw that he had already gone. She didn't even bother to think about how he had disappeared so quickly, she just trudged back to the car.
Maybe this was another practical joke, only Tish had convinced Remy to take things further this time, to really get her emotionally invested before breaking her heart. Or maybe this was all Annie's scheme to humiliate her frenemy, Tish, and get Matt for herself and now that Remy's part was over, he was getting bored.
Or maybe the plan had been to actually get her to Homecoming, then they get her elected Homecoming Queen (please, like she would accept the accolade!) then they would pull a Carrie or similar, dousing her in pigs blood or red paint, or dog food...
That didn't quite sit right with her but it was all she could come up with. She arrived early at the cinema to pick the others up but they weren't long. She let their chatter wash over her as they drove home. Kitty gave her an odd look but she was tactful enough to wait until they were alone in their room before asking.
"Are you all right?"
Rogue didn't know how to answer that. Was she all right? To be honest, she felt kind of numb.
"I think Remy broke up with me," she admitted, sitting on Kitty's bed and hugging her friend's purple dragon to her chest.
"You think?"
Rogue shrugged; none of that conversation had been very logical.
"What did he say?" Kitty urged.
"Nothing that made a lot of sense but basically, he's bad for me, I think that was the gist."
"Why?"
"He wouldn't say."
They sat silently for a few moments, until Kitty finally exclaimed, "That's total crap!"
Despite her mood, Rogue couldn't help but smile at that. She felt the same way.
"What are you going to do?" Kitty cried.
"What can I do, Kitty? He doesn't want me, I can't change that." She knew that well enough, she had learned her lesson with Scott.
"Don't be silly, the two of you are like, fated or something."
"Kitty," her voice held a warning tone, she was in no mood to see the world through Kitty's rose tinted glasses.
"Seriously, Rogue, haven't you ever noticed how he looks at you? Even when he's answering one of us, he's almost always looking at you, like you're the centre of his universe or something."
"It's a nice idea, Kitty, but I think you're imagining things."
"I am not, Amanda noticed it too."
"Kitty, please, just drop it, okay? I'm not in the mood for fairytales."
"It's not a fairytale," Kitty argued, "but I won't pester you."
"Thanks. I'm gonna jump in the shower then head to bed, I think. You?"
"I still have some Math homework to finish."
Rogue put the toy dragon down and made her way to the bathroom. As the hot water washed over her face, she finally let her tears flow.
Remy wasn't in school the next day and not even Kitty and Amanda's gossip network knew why.
Rogue did; he was avoiding her.
Something odd happened now that Remy wasn't there though, other boys began to approach her. All just to chat, none of them asked her out but Rogue was the untouchable woman, boys just weren't interested in her. Ever. Until Remy. Maybe his liking her had made her cool, she mused as she chatted to Tom. He was president of the student council so definitely not cool, but Rogue had always thought him good looking.
Now though, while his attention amused her, she didn't find him at all attractive. In fact, next to Remy he was as inconsequential as a gnat.
After that she took the time to look for the other boys she had found attractive and came to a startling realisation; Remy had ruined her for other men!
Her anger began to rise. How dare he play with her feelings, spoil other men for her, then dump her like yesterdays newspaper! Who did he think he was, that he got to decide this for both of them? That arrogant, self involved, selfish, autocratic, conceited, jerk presume to know what was best for her?
Rogue was hopping mad, all right, and Remy was about to get a piece of her mind!.
To say that Wolverine was puzzled by the new scent that seemed to be popping up everywhere in the mansion, would be an understatement. Just this morning, both Kitty and Rogue were covered in the new scent, as was their room, yet he couldn't find a single trail for it in the school or grounds.
Who or what was leaving it? He had ruled Kurt's teleporting out as he had been paying close attention to the young man's scent, and it definitely wasn't him.
The professor didn't seem to think that there was anything to worry about and Logan was out of clues, so he decided to take his mind off things. Young people in the town were being attacked, so far one girl and two teenage boys. All reports confirmed that it was an animal behind the attacks, but Logan wanted to be sure. It could be Sabretooth after all, or a similar mutant.
He took his bike and headed for the site of the most recent attack. Obviously the paper didn't give an exact grid reference, so when Logan got to the woods, he followed the pungent scent of blood until he found the site of the attack. There was still police tape up but he ignored it.
It was hard to detect much under all the blood, but Wolverine's sense of smell outdid even the most sensitive bloodhound nose, and there was definitely an alien scent here.
The one he'd been chasing around the mansion was sort of sickly sweet and this one was similar but slightly different. Like something sickly sweet that had gone off. Now that he had the scent, he tried to follow it. It led him about 200 feet into the trees, up a tree, then it stopped. Like the wolf (which authorities suspected was behind the attacks) had flown in, landed in the tree than scaled down the trunk.
It didn't make any sense.
It could be a shapeshifter, but he had never heard of a shapeshifter who could fly. Unless, perhaps like Mystique, this one could take the shape of different animals. Perhaps they flew in as a bird, then changed into a wolf?
The only thing he knew for certain, was that this scent was not Mystique.
He headed to the other attack sites and found a trace of the same scent at the second attack, but rain had washed away all traces of scent (other than a slight trace of blood) at the scene of the first attack.
He headed back to the mansion to share what he had discovered with Charles.
Since Amanda's parents didn't like Kurt, they often arranges clandestine meetings. Tomorrow was Saturday and therefore a non-school night, so Amanda was sleeping over with her friend, Katie. What her parents didn't know was that Kitty was also invited, and Kurt would be there until they went to bed.
That was phase one of Rogue's plan, an alibi. Kitty had agreed to tell Logan or anyone else who asked, that she and Remy were fighting and Kitty was dragging her to the sleepover because she needed cheering up.
Kitty often presumed to know what was best for people, so no one would think twice about it.
Next Rogue had to get Remy's address, since he hadn't bothered to share that with her. That proved slightly more difficult but after some sweet talking by Kitty and Amanda, Kurt agreed to teleport her into Kelly's office. To ensure that Kelly wasn't in his office, Kitty shorted out the fire alarm so the school was evacuated.
Rogue wished they could have been more subtle, but she would take what she could get. Remy's file was easy enough to find so Rogue jotted the address down in her notebook, then Kurt teleported them back to the janitors closet. No one had heard them over the fire alarm and they easily merged into the crowds who were evacuating.
In return for all her help, Rogue had agreed to let Kitty drive to and from school for three days; a decision she was regretting as they screeched into the mansion garage, narrowly missing both Scott's convertible and Logan's prized bike.
Rogue pried her clawed fingers from the arm rest and on somewhat shaky legs, made her way up to her room to plan for tomorrow night.
Unfortunately, not fifteen minutes later, she soon heard the professor's voice in her head, asking her to come to his office. She really hoped they weren't about to be busted.
"Professor?" she asked as she entered. Kitty was also there.
They were so busted.
"Ah, Rogue, please take a seat."
Rogue took the chair next to Kitty. "What's up?"
"Logan has been looking into these animal attacks and he's detected a scent around the mansion that is similar to one at the attack sites."
"I don't understand?" Rogue frowned. Maybe they weren't busted.
"You and Kitty seem to have the largest traces of this scent on you. Logan told me that you, Rogue, had this scent on you on Tuesday night after being outside, and both you and Kitty carried the scent on Thursday morning."
After she and Remy had got busy on Kitty's bed, Rogue realised. For once she was thankful for the voices in her head, because they made it difficult for the professor to read her mind.
"Have you two been anywhere together that you could have picked up this scent?" he asked.
Kitty looked completely innocent, having no clue why she smelt odd. Rogue thought she did a pretty good impression of looking confused too.
"Just school, but never just the two of us." Rogue answered. Kitty nodded her agreement.
"Very well. Please do keep your eyes open for anything unusual and come to me or Logan if you have any ideas."
"We will, professor," Kitty assured him.
"Good. Now, if I don't see you beforehand, enjoy your sleepover tomorrow evening," he said to Rogue, and she got the distinct impression that he knew she wasn't going to stay with Kitty but sneak off. She could be wrong, after all he made it a habit not to go into other peoples minds without permission. Still, she'd bet good money that he knew that something was up. Her mind might be difficult to read, but Kitty's sure wasn't. She might even have broadcast her thoughts while waiting for Rogue.
"What do you think that was about?" Kitty asked as they headed back upstairs.
Rogue shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe the wolf uses the same brand of shampoo as we do?"
Kitty giggled and promptly forgot all about the strange scent. Rogue though, was left with rather darker thoughts. Was Remy killing these kids? Logan had said the scent at the mansion (which she knew to be Remy's) was similar, although not the same as the scent at the attack sites. Was it him? Could it be? He was always saying that he was bad for her and had secrets, but could she really be so blind as to fall for a killer?
And if it was him, why did the attacks look like they were done by animals? She knew Remy was gifted; he could charm anyone, he could blow stuff up (although she hadn't see that one) and he could either fly or had super speed, like Quicksilver, so it was quite possible that he had other powers that he hadn't told her about yet.
And what an eclectic mix of powers that was, too.
Was he capable of such a thing? Well, there was no doubt that these attacks started when Remy got to town. She didn't know the exact date he moved here, but the attacks had been going on for about week now, and Remy had started school last Monday.
Her mind went over and over the possibilities that night until, exhausted, she finally fell asleep, around 3am.