Six months later.
Something is following me. The moment I stepped out of Virgo Laboratory's building, I could feel it and my skin crawls just by thinking about its appearance. Dark eyes. Eight of them. I just want to talk to whoever created spiders and why they decided to give them eight eyes and eight legs. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I can't stop thinking about the brown spider that's the size of my hand that was watching me eat lunch near the window of the cafeteria. I almost cried. It's been hours and I feel like it's constantly watching me with all eight eyes, planning my death.
I had to stay late for work because of paperwork. As I walked through the hallway, I could only think of the monster watching me. Even in my car, the entire time I drove home, I can't help but feel like it's going to pop up to my face and I'd end up crashing my car and then I'm a goner. When I parked my car, there's that thought of the little shit hiding near the door and then it'll jump out and kill me.
"Come on. Don't be a scaredy cat."
I took a deep breath and got out of my car as fast as I could. I locked it with one press of a button and ran to the three-story apartment building, feeling as if the eight legged demon is chasing me at this very second. I had to slow down because it's late and my neighbors are probably sleeping and I don't want to wake anyone up because I'm being murdered.
Climbing the stairs was a lot more difficult than I thought. I held my breath the entire time and my heart was beating eight-eight miles per hour, I was afraid I'd accidentally transport myself into the future, which is my death. When I reached the third floor, I smiled at my closed door. Almost there. Just a few more steps. I can do this.
I am a strong woman.
I can do anything.
I am awesome.
I am a bad ass.
In the middle of a mental chant, I felt something latch onto my right ankle.
Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit I'm going to fucking die right now. I'm sorry for every bad thing I've ever done please let me go to heaven or The Good Place or the Tardis or -
'Meow.'
A black cat.
That's the little shit that attacked me.
"Hello, demon."
As he clings onto my ankle, I marched the rest of my way to my apartment. It was already unlocked, so I simply turned the knob and entered.
And then I stopped because for a second, I thought I walked in the wrong place.
The lights are off, but there are candles everywhere, illuminating the red and lavender roses that decorate the apartment. A certain witch likes to leave it at random places for me to find, never wanting to stop 'courting' me (his word, not mine) even though we have been together for months now. But even though I see them a lot, I never get tired of them.
Red and lavender became my favorite colors, especially after learning what the roses meant. One day, I finally convinced him to tell me, in exchange for a coupon at his favorite fast food place, and so he did. The witch's feelings for me reflected the colors.
In the beginning, it was lavender. Enchantment and love at first sight.
Lavender turned to plum colored, transitioning to red, which showed how deep and strong his feelings have gotten.
I remembered crying about it and he laughed at me. Then, he gave me the two roses, one red and one lavender, before we headed out for chocolate milkshakes.
Hearing footsteps behind me, I turned around to find the witch himself. He's dressed in a gray sweatshirt, black pants, and a burgundy scarf that used to be mine but is now in the possession of a male with violet eyes and short, black, soft and fluffy hair that are pointed up, starting from his forehead, ending behind his ears.
"You scared me! Stop wandering outside at night!"
He put a hand on my waist and kissed me deeply. "Grumpy human."
I pulled away to fix the scarf on his neck. "How was work?"
"It was fun. There was a man who was being rude to everyone, customers and workers, because he was late for work. He specifically asked for soy milk."
"And you didn't give him soy milk."
"Oh, I did." He grinned. "With extra shot of crushed juniper berries."
Juniper berries as in Juniper Muffin as in Diarrhea. "Zander, you could get fired." I lightly hit his arm. "That was amazing and I totally approve but still."
He chuckled, guiding the two of us towards the couch. "How was your work?"
I removed my shoes and my coat and put them aside. "Tiring, but it was actually kind of fun. We started a new project. It's like a serum that makes people super strong or whatever." I then put my hair down and hovered my hands above the candles for some heat. It's chilly outside.
"What? Like Captain America?" Zander gasped.
I shook my head. "I thought that too but no. It's just some type of energy booster. It doesn't make super heroes, just cocky jocks on gyms probably. And its colored blue, so you don't have to worry about accidentally drinking it the next time you visit."
He smiled sheepishly. "What, you don't want be to become super strong? I could do amazing things if I'm super strong."
"Like what?"
Zander smiled and kisses me again, pushing me down on the couch and leaning down towards me. His hands roamed all over my figure before licking his lips and whispering in my ear, "Like holding more than two bags of groceries in each hand."
My mouth dropped. "That's not a terrible idea. But you can hold like ten bags of groceries with no hand."
"True. I am amazing." He runs a hand through his hair. "You know what else I can do?"
"Hmm?"
It wasn't the spider that will kill me, but the witch who had began tickling me. It took a minute until I could jump away from him. I sat on the couch's arm rest and put a hand out towards him. "Stay back, little shit."
He laughed. "Samuel said the exact same thing to me last week when I visited him at the bar he works at. And he didn't even give me a free drink." The last time he's gotten drunk was from a potion. I am one hundred percent sure that Samuel has brewed Woozy Water at his job and has given it to at least five people.
Three knocks on the door sounded just now.
Zander opened it and turned on the lights using his magic, which comes in handy a lot when it comes to opening and closing doors, getting things that are too far away, and lifting heavy bags.
Orion walks in, holding his cat, Hermione, in his arms. He sat down on the chair across from us. "Hey guys, good news." The two of us waited. "Hermione's pregnant." My mouth drops. "Which means, kittens!"
Wow.
"Congrats." I then faced Zander. "Congrats on becoming a future uncle." I'm assuming that Hermione got knocked up by the cat owned by the ginger cat a floor below us. "Father of Cats, you will soon be the Grandfather of Cats."
Just then, the door opened and in walked another neighbor. Dressed in gray sweatpants, black, rolled up long sleeves, and tousled silver hair. He's holding a notebook and a black pen. He takes the spot on my left, since the one on the right one is taken.
"Hey."
"You look like you're about to cry."
Roman groaned and threw his head back, hitting the couch. "I just arrived from the hospital. It was really busy today so I'm barely doing my chemistry homework. I need help with like, nine of them."
I glanced at his notebook. "Oh, I see you did number one."
"It's wrong." The witch sings.
I checked the vampire's work and nodded my head. "Correct answer but wrong rounding of significant figures."
"Which is wrong." Zander added. "So sad. If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here." He said to the red eyed male. "But don't use my left because Astoria left a lot hickeys there so it's a little sore."
I picked up one of my shoes from the floor and hit Zander's arm with it, feeling my face burn with embarrassment.
Zander just likes to get on Roman's nerves, but the two are actually good friends. Roman got used to it.
"Professor Castaldi hates me. I don't know if it's because I keep messing up on the labs and quizzes or if it's because he's still mad that I attacked him."
"It's probably that last one." Orion murmured, letting Hermione walk on the floor.
"Or both. He's just really snappy sometimes. He always picks on me too." We have the same professor, but are taking different course of chemistry. Roman and Zander have a class together though. The two of them decided to take Rock Climbing, for fun. Both of them agree that it's not fun.
And speaking of chemistry...
Miko and Ivy entered the apartment, since the door was already opened. The last time I saw Ivy was two days ago, when she, Miko, and Zander visited Eli at his house. She and Scooby, also known as the ever grouchy Alexis but mostly Scooby, also picked up Roman last weekend for a quick trip to San Francisco to help a fellow vampire who was having issues adjusting to animal blood diet.
When she's not helping other sacred beings, the alpha wolf is roaming around town, protecting its residents, looking out for any danger. Ivy recently started working as a police officer in the Jupiter Police Department. According to the deputy, the department needs more people who actually want to protect people rather than just sit around and wait for the paycheck. Miko and I recommended Ivy, and the department happily hired her.
"I brought donuts."
As soon as Miko sets the pink box on the table, Zander jumps on it right away and gets two chocolate ones.
"You are the best." He grins at Miko, teeth immediately getting covered with chocolate.
"We just wanted to drop by – "
Ivy corrected her quickly, "Sharlene wanted to drop by. I wanted to go home and sleep."
Miko glared at her playfully. "We just came from the restaurant that just opened up. It's pretty good, highly recommend. Luna works there as one of the cooks."
I nodded. "Cool! We'll make sure to check it out."
"Anyway, Ivy and I were talking about our plans for the end of the year. I was thinking, why don't we all go on a winter vacation?"
"What?" Asked the boy who has Chocolate sprinkles for cheeks.
The love of my life.
"Why? Where?" Orion questioned, picking up a jelly donut.
I reached for the box and got a simple glazed one. Roman shook his head when I held the box towards him.
"Not sure. Where do you guys want to go?" Miko replied. "Definitely as far away from Nevada as possible."
Orion nodded. "Yep."
"Agreed." Roman replied, tapping his notebook with the pen.
Roman is now one of my closest friends and he is cool, but boy do I hate it when he uses pens when he's doing calculations by hand. You do not do math with pen. No no no. Maybe if all work is neat and clear, sure, go ahead. But Roman? No.
If you use a pen for calculations, it's easy to make mistakes. You won't be able to erase them because it's a pen. You'll make a few more mistakes, and then you'll just start over to a new paper, which means it's a waste of paper, which makes the trees angry, and if trees are angry, the world sucks.
"Astoria, what do you think?" Orion asked, making me stop glaring at the notebook.
"Oh. Well, Zander has a lot of bucket list activities that involves snow, so we could go somewhere snowy."
"What kind of activities do you want to do?" Ivy asked Zander.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Things I haven't done before. Like, Ice skating, sledding, and building a snowman."
Building a snowman? "Oh, you precious thing." I cleaned his face with my thumbs.
Miko shifted on her chair, resting her legs on Ivy's lap. "We could go to Japan. I have families there. My grandparents live there, one uncle, one aunt, and a lot of cousins."
The alpha wolf suddenly smirked. "I'm in."
Roman nods. "Me too. Let me know the days so I can let work know."
Orion's eyes went to his cat. "My cat is pregnant."
"And?"
"I have to take care of Hermione."
"We'll only be gone for a little while." Said Miko. "Your other neighbor took care of her before. I'm sure they'll take care or her again."
"Fine."
The chemist cheers.
"I'd love to go to Japan." I shared. "I also have an aunt and two cousins there. The only countries in Asia I've been to is Thailand and the Philippines since my mom likes to come home at least once every two years."
Zander also responded. "As long as we will have a snowball fight, I'm down. I don't care about your 'I'm too old for this' excuses," He glares at Roman. "And 'My back hurts' excuses." That was Orion's excuse when they went skydiving. Zander didn't buy it. When they finished, Orion was crying. He was really happy about it, but he was freaking out a lot. It was kind of amazing. "We have to do it."
Well, I guess we're going to Japan in December.
"Also, not that I want you all to leave because I was planning to shower my soulmate with affection tonight," He paused for a long time, making sure to look at every one of them sternly. "But why are you all here again? Now that I think about it, you guys are like, always here. Why can't Orion's apartment be the hang out spot?"
"Because it kinda smells weird in there." Ivy admitted. "I have been to Roman's apartment and he has blood bags. Disgusting, but the smell isn't too bad ever since Sharlene gave him something to get rid of the stench. I don't know if it's the cat or Orion's laundry, but it's not a nice smell."
"It's Orion's laundry." Zander says.
"Yep." Roman pointed at the technician with his pen. "It's the laundry."
Orion looked at the two of them, betrayed.
Soon, the group erupted with discussions, making plans for our vacation.
Meanwhile, I stood up and went to the kitchen to give everyone drinks. I did pause to admire my friends for a moment, laughing at how they're arguing over what to do and what to see in Japan first. These people are my second family and even though we're a mess, I love every single one of them and every moment I've spent with them.
It wasn't long until Zander appeared behind me. I checked my cabinets and my fridge, trying to find drinks I can give to my friends. Looks like one lucky person gets to have the last drops of red wine Zander and I drank yesterday. The others get to drink iced tea. Yay!
I put the drinks down on the counter table and got six glassware. Zander followed my every move.
"Will you stop following me?" I laughed at the pretty witch wearing an innocent smile.
"But I'm your guardian angel." He wrapped his arms around me, standing behind me and resting his head on my shoulder, watching as I poured the rest of the red wine on a glass. "I'll follow you to heaven, hell, and everything in between." He then steals a kiss on my lips before stealing the only glass with red wine before running off.
Even after all this time, my stomach still gets full with butterflies every time he says or do something like that. We've been together for a while now, that feeling of excitement and anticipation and nervousness are still there, just like in the beginning.
After giving everyone their drinks, I opened the balcony to let some fresh air in. As I stood outside, I observed the dark street below.
I recalled the night it all started. It's what led me to a crazy journey, and what gave me this second family. I remember.
Something was following me. It wasn't a vampire or a witch.
It was a color. It was everywhere.
The color of someone's eyes that haunted me for days.
The color of blood that's been spilled throughout the long adventure.
The color of a scarf that a certain magical cat found worth keeping forever.
The color of roses from a protector, a best friend, a soulmate, that never fails to make me feel special.
I grew to love the same color that I feared from the beginning: red.
_____________________________________________________________________________
THE END.
a/n: HEY. So. I didn't think we'd get here, but we reached the end of the story! I cannot thank you all enough for reading. Thank you for letting me tell this story. I fell in love with the characters as you did. I love Zander with all of my heart. This story is far from perfect, but I hope that I was able to help you or influence you in anyway. Even if it only took your mind off a few things for a short time. I hope I made you smile and laugh (and cry too, but not in a mean way because I love you all). All your comments encouraged me to keep writing. There were a few times when I thought this story wasn't good enough and didn't want to continue it, but then I see one comment telling me about how much they love the characters, and the story, and how much they laughed, and I thought, a few more chapters won't hurt. And now, here we are at the end. So, thank you so much for your support.
There's no plans for sequels, for now at least. Maybe I will give in and write one, eventually. If I do, I will let you all know here. But for now, this is the one and only.
I hope you all enjoyed. Thank you. I love you. You're amazing. You're beautiful. You're special. Thank you.