Chapter 1
I sat on an expensive-looking black sofa in an expensive-looking apartment, wearing an expensive-looking violet silk robe. It was a big step up from the alleyway I had been huddled in only a few minutes ago, completely naked and shivering in the chill of one of the cooler spring nights, but I was still shaking. I was scared, damn it, and I had been ever since I woke up in that alleyway half an hour ago with absolutely no idea who I was, where I was, or why I was wherever I was.
"I found her alone in an alley a while ago," the nice lady that had brought me into her home said to the blond man at her door. Her name was Promise. Promise Nottinger. I had caught her scent when she first found me, and something in my mind clicked, telling me she was a vampire. I wasn't afraid of her, though. That same something that had clicked in my mind before had also been kind enough to let me know that vampires weren't necessarily the enemy.
"She seems fine. Why did you have me come over?" Promise's blond friend asked, his gray eyes just as calm as they had been when he arrived five minutes ago.
"She can't stay here, Niko," Promise answered simply, her purple eyes emotionless.
"Why? You seem to have everything under control," Niko stated.
When the vampire next spoke, she lowered her voice so only Niko could hear her, not realizing that I could hear her, too, seeing as my hearing was abnormally good. "I'm not sure what she is. Your brother might be able to tell, though." She omitted the fact that I freaked her out for some reason, but that was made obvious by the slight uneasiness I could see in her eyes whenever she glanced back at me.
I tore my own eyes away from the woman and gazed down at my dirty, snow-white hands. I had no idea what my face looked like or anything, but I knew that I was dirty, freakishly pale, quite tall, and malnourished-looking. Oh, yeah. And my chest was huge. Can't forget that.
"You want me to take her back to my apartment to allow Cal to smell her, then?" the blond man said questioningly.
Becoming both curious about my own appearance and a bit frightened by the conversation Promise was having with Niko, I silently got to my bare feet and strode silently into what was obviously a bathroom.
Peering into the mirror, I cocked my head, my light pink lips parting slightly at the sight. My hair was straight, falling to my waist in one silky, albeit messy, black wave. My right cheek was bruised and my whole face was dirty, just like the rest of my pale, scarred body. The scars...Not even bothering to look at my eyes yet, I let the robe Promise had lent me slide to the floor in the soft rustling of silk.
I grimaced at my body's condition. Sure, I had big boobs that any guy would drool over, a nice hourglass shape, a decent ass, but I was just, for lack of a better term, hideous. Four faint lines ran across my stomach, going directly from one side to the other. Marks identical to these were all over my legs and arms as well as several nasty-looking bruises. Turning around and peering over my shoulder, I found that my back wasn't much better. Luckily, my face had only that one bruise. Deciding it was time to study my eyes, I turned back around and leaned over the sink for a closer look.
Red. They were dark red.
Was that a normal eye color?
For some reason, I didn't think so. Maybe that was why Promise wanted me to leave.
I heard someone heading in the direction of the bathroom door, so I swiftly put my borrowed robe back on and turned away from the mirror.
"Niko has agreed to take you," Promise informed me when she appeared in the doorway, her brown hair spilling over her shoulders and standing out against the white shirt she was wearing. I nodded and followed her silently when she walked back to where that tall blond man stood at her door.
We stopped just shy of the doorway itself, and I began to take the robe off, but Promise held up a hand to stop me. "Keep it," was all she said. I blushed the slightest bit and nodded, then went out the door with Niko after he and Promise had said their goodbyes, neither of them paying any attention to my bare, cut-up feet.
We ended up walking back to Niko's apartment in silence after he told me he didn't currently have a car. I somehow managed to keep myself from shivering and being jealous of his warm-looking black coat.
When we finally entered the apartment, I looked around curiously. It was tidy and clean for the most part, but I could smell Auphe all over the place. My brow furrowed at the thought. An Auphe...What the hell was an Auphe? I simply shrugged off the unfamiliar word and moved so Niko could come in. He did so quickly, closing and locking the door behind him.
"Cal," the man called, sounding ever-so-slightly irritated.
"Yeah, Cyrano?" a voice yelled back from another room.
"Why was the door unlocked?"
"Because I forgot to lock it," the unseen guy answered, unperturbed.
Niko shook his head disapprovingly even though Cal couldn't see him. Before he could say anything, though, a black-haired boy rushed into the room. "I smell Grend-" The guy fell silent when he saw me, his gray eyes widening.
"So she's a Grendel, then?" Niko said questioningly, his eyes never leaving me.
"No. Only half, like me." Cal cocked his head, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Who is she?"
"I don't know. She doesn't, either."
Both of the males fell silent at that point, and I blushed, looking from one staring man to the other. Then came Cal's interesting question. "Should we give her a name, then?"
Niko's gaze finally wandered to his brother. "I suppose so. She might remember her name sometime in the future, but we can't just call her 'Nameless Girl' until then."
"Okay. So, what should we name her?"
"Ebony," Niko suggested just as Cal said, "Ruby."
Then, in unison, the brothers said, "That sounds like a name for a cat, not a person."
They fell silent once again, both studying me and trying to think of a fitting name.
"Isabella," Niko said after several moments of silence, "the main character in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure."
"I like it," Cal stated, nodding. "We can even shorten it to Bella if we get tired of saying it." He then looked over at me. "Do you like it?"
Blushing more just because someone was paying attention to me, I nodded and finally spoke. "Yes. Thank you for naming me."
"You're welcome," Cal said with a smile before looking at his brother. "She's probably going to need some clothes."
Niko nodded in agreement. "I'll go buy her some now. I doubt she would be comfortable shopping in some of your old clothes." And with that being said, the blond man exited the apartment, leaving me alone with Cal.
Caliban gazed at the TV for a moment, then looked over at me with a smile. "Wanna watch some TV?"
When Niko returned an hour later, he found me on my knees in front of the TV, watching Animal Planet calmly as Cal stared at me sleepily.
"Did you know that the cheetah has the ability to accelerate from zero to sixty-eight miles per hour in just three seconds?" I asked the blond, my red eyes never leaving the television.
Cal arched an eyebrow. "The show on cheetahs ended a half hour ago. How can she still remember that?"
"Photographic memory. The Auphe always liked to watch me play Simon." How I remembered that, I could not fathom. Almost as soon as I recalled that memory, though, it disappeared from my mind. I blinked slowly, looking over at Niko, who was standing in the doorway, a department store bag in each hand. "What did I just say? I..." My brow furrowed in confusion and worry as my eyes fell to the floor by my knees. "I can't remember."
Cal looked surprised when something close to a sympathetic wince crossed his brother's face.
The man's calm, emotionless expression returned a split second later, however, and all he said to me was, "Don't worry about it. It was nothing important." Those two bags he was carrying hit the floor right in my line of sight suddenly, causing me to jump slightly. "Cal will help you find something suitable to wear to bed. You do sleep at night, right?"
I looked up at him and shrugged helplessly. "I can't remember." My gaze dropped to the floor once again as I added softly, "I apologize."
"It's not your fault," Cal stated, picking up the bags his brother had just put on the floor. "Now, come on. Let's get you dressed." He then turned and headed to the bathroom.
I looked up at Niko, not sure if I should really follow. He shrugged nonchalantly and walked into the kitchen, clearly telling me to go. And, like the good little girl I was, I got to my feet and went after Caliban silently.
"Wow. He actually bought you underwear," Cal snickered, holding up a pair of nice black undies when I entered the well-lit bathroom behind him. A full laugh escaped him when he pulled a matching black bra out of one of the bags resting on the back of the toilet a moment later. "Holy crap," he said, still laughing a little. "They look like they'll actually fit, too."
I looked at the two garments uncertainly, and his laughter stopped, being replaced by a look dangerously close to pity.
"You do know how to put these on and everything, right?" he asked, that slight look of pity still in place.
I looked away, blushing, and he knew the answer instantly. "Sorry."
"It's no problem. I'll just have to help you," Cal said with a shrug, still holding the dark undergarments. He stepped toward me, then gently pulled away from the door and closed it behind me. "Okay. Turn around and take off the robe," he said once he was facing me again.
I did so slowly, nervously. I only grew more nervous when I heard Cal's sharp intake of breath.
"Ouch," he murmured, moving a bit closer to me with a grimace. He turned away after a moment and I heard the sound of tags being removed from the clothing I was supposed to wear. "Okay. This is a bit a awkward." I felt him shift behind me, trying to figure out how he was going to do this without seeing or touching anything that should not be seen or touched. It would've been amusing if I wasn't so damn shy.
After five more minutes of silent debating for poor Cal, I finally said, "I can try to do it myself."
"All right. Here ya go." He gladly handed me the bra when I reached back for it.
I managed to get as far as the whole clasping the little hooks part. "Um..." A shudder ran down my spine when I felt Caliban's fingers brush my alabaster skin as he helped me.
"Honestly," he muttered to himself as he worked. "How the hell do women get into these things, anyway?"
Soon enough, he was finished, and I found that the bra fit almost perfectly. Next, the half-Auphe handed me the underwear. I managed to get those on all by myself, much to Cal's relief.
"Okay. Now for the actually pajamas," he said while beginning to dig through one of the department store bags. "Well, it seems the closest thing to pj's Nik got for you is this." He held up a pair of black shorts and a black tank top with spaghetti straps. Both looked like they'd be incredibly tight.
Damn it, I thought, eyeing the clothing. I should've known his size-guessing skills were too good to be true.
I managed to slip the shorts on without Cal's help. They were comfortable, but a bit tight, just like I thought they would be. Cal, the little perv, seemed to like them, though, so I just ignored the tightness and moved on to putting the shirt on.
I actually needed help at that point.
Caliban, being the nice guy he is, helped me get the tank top on, sliding it on over my head with ease. His fingers brushed against my stomach as he pulled the top straight, and I shuddered again. That strange something in my head told me I liked being touched so much because I rarely had any contact with humans.
"There," Cal mumbled, taking a step back to study me as I faced him, looking at the ground and blushing. "Now all we need to do is get you cleaned up a bit. I'll help you take a shower tomorrow." He led me over to the sink, wet a washcloth with warm water, then began to gently wipe the dirt off of my face.
As we stood there, facing each other, Caliban intent on his work, I examined him.
He was a little bit taller than me, slightly darker, and he had hair I wanted to touch really, really bad.
So, of course, I impulsively reached out and ran my hands through his longish black hair.
His hand stopped moving as his eyes darted to mine, which were focused solely on his soft hair.
It took me a moment to realize that he was staring at me, but when I finally noticed, my face flamed and I quickly pulled my hands back.
"S-sorry. I just..." My face only turned redder. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Cal replied, beginning to clean my face again without another word.
Soon enough, I was all clean. The dirt on my face, arms, and legs was gone, revealing even more nasty-looking bruises.
"There," Cal said while taking a step back and dropping the grimy washcloth in the sink. He looked me over quickly, then nodded in approval. "You look better than before." He poked my ribs, hidden by my shirt, gently. "You still look malnourished, though. Let's get you something to eat before we go to bed." He then turned an walked out of the bathroom with me in tow, feeling odd now that I had some actual clothes on.
"Hey, Cyrano," the black-haired half-human greeted his brother when we entered the kitchen. Niko was sitting silently in a chair, staring down at the table. When he didn't reply, Cal waved a pale hand in front of his gray eyes. "Nik? Are you in there?"
"Yes, little brother, I am," Niko replied, continuing to gaze down at the table.
Cal could tell that something was wrong. "What's-" A meaningful look from Niko shut him up quickly, and he instead spoke to me. "What do you want to eat?"
I shrugged. "Whatever there is to eat, I guess."
Cal turned and rummaged in a cupboard, then the refrigerator, then another cupboard, feeling my and Niko's eyes on him the entire time. He didn't comment on our staring, though, as he eventually ended up with a couple of plates, a jar of peanut butter, and a few pieces of white bread sitting on the counter before him. "Peanut butter sandwiches it is, then," he sighed under his breath while grabbing a butter knife and beginning to make the sandwiches. "We really have to go to the store soon, Niko," he added, speaking a bit louder now so his brother could hear him.
"Yes, I know," was Niko's calm reply as he eyed the peanut butter with distaste.
It took under a minute for Cal to make my sandwich and hand it to me along with a plate.
I cocked my head down at the food and quietly said, "Thank you," before sitting down at the table and starting to eat my sandwich neatly. I might have been pretty much raised by the Auphe, but I still had some decent manners. Wait a minute...
My brow furrowed for what had to be the billionth time that day. Raised by the Auphe? I was raised by the Auphe? Sadly, I never got a chance to fully process this surprising fact before the memory mysteriously disappeared from my mind, leaving me thoroughly confused.
Both of the brothers noticed my perplexed expression, but neither of them commented on it. They simply stared at me, Cal doing so while sitting down across from me with his own plate full of sandwiches.
"So, bedtime?" Caliban said questioningly once we had both finished our food.
I nodded silently and watched as Niko picked up our plates and put them in the sink.
"All right." Cal grinned. "You can take my bed."
I looked over at him, my red eyes widening in surprise. "N-no. You keep your bed. I'll sleep on the couch or something."
"No you will not." That black-haired piece of uber-sexy man got to his feet with a stern expression on his pale face. "You're a guest here. You deserve to be comfortable, and the couch is anything but."
"B-b-but, I don't want to be a burden," I stammered, my cheeks reddening as I copied Cal's movements and stood.
"Taking my bed when I tell you to doesn't make you a burden." Before I had the chance to object, the boy turned and strolled out of the kitchen. "Come on."
Not knowing what else to do, I followed silently, pouting because I hadn't gotten my way.
Next thing I knew, I was passed out on a messy bed, hugging a Cal-scented pillow like there was no tomorrow and probably drooling quite a bit, too. But don't tell Cal about that. I mean, come on. He wouldn't like sleeping in another person's drool if he knew about it, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?
Yeah. Right.