I watch as the moving truck backs it way up the drive way toward the old farm house next door. It has been years since anyone occupied that old house and I'm shocked that someone actually bought it. Behind the moving truck two cars pull into the drive way, a newer prius and an older car that looks like it will never handle the West Virginian winters.
I take in a deep breath and try to clear my thought. Something about this isn't sitting well with me. Having neighbors is going to be horrible. How are we supposed to lay low and keep away from humans if we have to have them so close to where we live. I growl to myself as dread washes over me. We've already lost so much and now to have humans here, so close to our home leaves me cold inside.
Dee runs into the kitchen where I'm standing watching what is happening outside. "Daemon, do you see this? What are we going to do?"
"Nothing Dee," I spat at her. "We aren't going to do anything. We are going to keep our distance and that is all, understand?"
Out of the Prius a woman stands and stretches. She's blond and pretty for an older woman. She walks around to the movers who are beginning to unload the large moving truck and starts to direct them. Then out of the older car I see the most beautiful creature emerge. She has long brown hair and a perfect body, even better than Ash's which is amazing.
The beautiful girl seems to be the same age as Dee and me. Oh damn, what the hell am I thinking? I can't think like this, it will just end up in all kinds of bad. But then Dee sees what I see and her eyes light up.
"Daemon, it's a girl our age," she squeals.
"Dee, don't even go there. You can't and you know it."
"Why? Daemon, why can't we have friends?"
"Dammit Dee, you know why. Now stop it and get ready, Ash, Andrew, and Adam will be here soon. We're going to the Smokehole for dinner."
Dee growls at me, her green eyes flashing with pure power. I always know when I piss her off. She looks like she's ready for a fight, but then the light dies down and she sends me one last glare before stalking out of the kitchen. For as dainty as she looks, she sounds like a herd of elephants as she stomps up the stairs to her room.
I continue to watch as the beautiful brunette gathers bags and other items out of her outdated car. She glances around as if she can't believe her surroundings, takes a deep breath and moves into the house and out of sight.
I snap myself out of my stupor and turn from the window. It makes no sense that I immediately felt an attraction to this girl. Luxen girls are perfect in every way, and Ash is especially perfect. But this girl, this girl is something else. But I can't let myself think that. I've got to keep my distance and I've got to make sure that Dee keeps her distance. We can't have this kind of problem again, not after Dawson and Bethany.
:::
Two mornings later, as I was washing my SUV I spotted the Prius coming up the driveway. The woman stepped out and glanced my direction. I ignored her stares as she made her way toward the house.
Dee walked around the front of the car and also caught the woman's eye. God I hope these people aren't going to be nosy, always staring over here at us when we are outside. That would just suck. The only time I'm really happy is when I'm outside doing things.
"That woman seems nice, doesn't she?" Dee asked.
"Dee, stop it. You know we can't go there."
"But Daemon, her daughter is our age. Maybe we could just be nice?"
"Nice? Yeah, sure Dee. Nice. We can accidently have to defend ourselves against an Aurum then she could end up with a trace. We are not going there again. I can't lose you because of a human like we lost Dawson."
Dee looks at me sadly and shakes her head. "You know, humans aren't as bad as you think. I'm sure there are lots of humans out there that could handle our secret and don't think you're fooling me, I saw the way you looked at that girl."
Stunned I look at her. Sometimes I swear Dee can read my mind. "I wasn't looking at that girl," I argued.
"Daemon, I saw you. You were practically drooling all over yourself. You are attracted to her. She's beautiful, why wouldn't you be?"
I ignored her. There was no way I was drooling on myself, I don't drool over anyone, especially a human girl. But there is something about that girl that stands out from every other human that I've ever seen, and I only caught a glimpse of her. She's something else.
Dee took my silence and smirked to herself. I guess she takes it as an admission or something, who knows. I busy myself with drying my SUV, can't have water spots on my precious vehicle.
"I'm going to the Foodland in town for some ice cream, do you need anything?"
"Yeah, how about you pick up other groceries too, not just ice cream."
She snickers, "Yeah, fine. I'll get other food too. See you later."
I move swiftly around the car and pull her into a hug, "Be careful and come straight home."
She hugs me back and smiles, "I will. I love you."
"Love you too."
She gets into her car and steers it down the driveway toward the main street. I watch until she is out of sight and then start to clean up the bucket and sponges. Once everything is put away, I go into the house and lounge on the couch. I flip through the channels on the television until I find a 'Ghost Investigator's' marathon. Sitting and watching these shows reminds me of Dawson. We would sit for hours on Saturdays and have our own ghost stories marathons. I loved it.
About ten minutes later, I'm relaxing on the couch watching the marathon when a knock sounds at my front door. I already know who this probably is, no one else would knock on my door and no one else would be around here to bother me. I stand and saunter to the front door, just before I open it I realize that I'm still not wearing a shirt from earlier. Oh well, let's see how flustered I can make this human girl.
Through the window on the door I can see her better than I did the other day. She has long light brown hair pulled into a ponytail, big eyes that are the shade of storm clouds. She has a perfect body, a curvy hour glass figure and nice breasts. Damn, I have got to stop thinking like this.
I open the door, ready to try to scare her away. I can't have her thinking she can come around here whenever she wants, no matter how much I'd like to see if her personality is as beautiful as her body.
"Can I help you?" I ask in my gruffest voice. It's not hard for me to sound gruff and intimidating, I was blessed with a deep and intimidating voice.
She just stands there staring at me. I snicker to myself, this is the reaction I expected when I decided to see if I can get her flustered. Apparently it's working.
She stands and stares, sliding her eyes over my body several times, from my face to my stomach and back again. Like she's taking all of me and committing me to memory. After a few moments I can't help by feel like a side of beef. I know I'm better built than the average human male, but if a guy were staring at her like this, she would probably be offended.
"Hello?" I say again, trying to snap her out of it and getting slightly annoyed. I stand and place one hand on the door frame, leaning forward. "Are you capable of speaking?"
She takes in a deep breath and her face is instantly a pretty shade of pink. The pink covers her cheeks and it brightens up her face, even though she really doesn't need it.
"Going once…" I say, ready to close the door and get as far away from her as I can.
"I…I was wondering if you knew where the closest grocery store is. My name is Katy. I moved next door." She pointed toward her house. "Like two days ago…"
"I know," I told her. It's not like I could have missed the huge moving truck, the fact that there was life in that house after it had been vacant for so long, or the beautiful girl that lives there. Nope, I couldn't miss any of that. I'd have to be blind to not see her.
"Well, I was hoping someone would know the quickest way to the grocery store and maybe a place that sold plants?"
"Plants?" I ask, trying to keep her here so I can just look at her for a few moments longer before pissing her off and making her go away.
"Yeah, see, there's a flower bed in front…"
I give her a look of part confusion and part annoyance. It's time to make her go away and not want to come back. I don't want her to think I'm friendly in any way.
"Okay."
I watch a wave of anger and annoyance wash over her face. Now I like her even more, she's not intimidated be me at all. I'm pissing her off, I love the way she looks pissed off.
"Well, see, I need to go by plants-"
"For the flower bed, I go that," I say, leaning against the door frame and crossing my arms. God she's beautiful in her tight tee-shirt and short shorts. She has long willowy legs for someone who can't be more than five feet- six inches tall. Her shirt that reads My Blog is better than your Vlog says that she's an independent thinker who does her own thing and she doesn't care about what other people think. I love that. Most girls would have gotten all dolled up to meet the neighbors or they are like Ash, who always dresses up and wouldn't know how to just throw on a tee-shirt and shorts.
I think I've gotten to her when she takes a deep breath and the look of annoyance and distaste crosses her face. I snicker to myself, knowing that it didn't take much to piss her off. She's feisty, and I love it.
"I'd like to find a store where I can find groceries and plants," she says in a tone that sounds an awful lot like and adult talking to a child.
"You are aware that this town only has one stop light, right?" I ask her, unable to hide the snicker in my voice. I know I sound condescending and rude. No matter what I need to make sure this girl stays away from me and my sister. I can't have Dee meeting her because she will fall in love with her immediately. There is something special about this girl. She's not like anyone I've ever encountered before. She's real, and that's a rare quality, especially in a girl in high school.
"You know, all I wanted was directions. This is obviously a bad time."
As my desires war with my obligations, I step up and pull myself to my full height. I'm at least a foot taller than this girl, her head barely reaches my shoulder. I try to intimidate her with my size, but apparently that isn't working either. So now it's time to insult her.
"Any time is a bad time for you to come knocking on my door, kid."
A look of complete disgust passes over her beautiful features, even that look is attractive on her. I have yet to see anything expression that takes away from her beauty.
"Kid?" she looks at me incredulously.
I raise my brow at her and smirk. That did it, I pissed her off good now.
"I'm not a kid. I'm seventeen."
So she is my age, just a little younger since Dee and I turned eighteen a few weeks ago.
"Is that so? You look like you're twelve." I stare at her, that couldn't be any further from the truth. She's definitely not built like a twelve or thirteen year old. Her body is too perfect for that. "No. Maybe thirteen, but my sister has this doll that kind of reminds me of you. All big eyed and vacant."
At that moment I know I may have taken it a little too far. The look that crosses her face makes me want to pull her into me and apologize. It makes me want to take everything back and let her know that she's the most gorgeous girl that I've ever laid eyes on in my life. But the deed is done. She's pissed and hurt, that should keep her away from us once and for all.
I can see the tears and hurt building in her as she looks at me astonished. "Yeah, wow. Sorry to bother you. I won't be knocking on your door ever again. Trust me."
And with that she turns and walks away, down the steps, and back toward her house. I can see she's struggling to keep it together. Remorse floods me. I'm not the dick that I make people believe that I am. I hate having to push people away like this. I hate having to be the one that behaves this way to keep my family safe.
"Hey," I call out to her.
She stops but doesn't turn around, "What?"
"You get on route 2 and turn on to US 220 North, not South. Takes you into Petersburg." I let out an exasperated breath. Not because I'm annoyed with her, but because I'm annoyed with myself. I hate being a dick sometimes. "The Foodland is right in town. You can't miss it. Well maybe you could," as soon as the words are out of my mouth I regret them. I think my douchebaggery has reached a new level today. "There's a hardware store next door, I think. They should have things that go in the ground."
"Thanks," she says quietly and starts to move away. Under her breath I hear her say one last work, "Douchebag."
I snicker to myself. Even though I've done everything I could to make her cry and make her run away from here, she's still feisty and refusing to just put up with my shit. I love it. "Now that's not very ladylike, kittycat," I taunt. I am warring with myself, between keeping her here and talking to me and forcing her to go away. I can't make myself want to push her away, even for our own good, Dee, me, and her. For some reason I want to keep her near and have her with me.
God, I wonder if this is what happened with Dawson and Beth. He did seem to fall for her the moment that he laid eyes on her. It was like Beth was his other half, his missing piece. And then whatever happened between them the day they went hiking and they were like two halves of a whole after that. Like whatever happened that day on the rocks linked them on a cosmic level or something. I feel even worse for ridiculing him and trying to force him away from her now. Because no matter how hard I want to push the beauty in front of me away, there is another part of me that wants to keep her for my own and love her.
She flipped around, sending me a death glare. Her gray eyes alight with the color of storm clouds churning, "Don't ever call me that."
"It's better than calling someone a douchebag, isn't it?" I ask, pushing open the screen door and walking out on the porch. "This has been a stimulating visit. I'll cherish it for a long time to come."
I sound like an ass, but the words are true. I like talking to her. I like being around her. I want to be closer to her and really know her.
I see her completely snap, she's not just feisty, she's not afraid of me. And she's not going to back down, no matter how much of an ass I'm being and how hard I'm trying to push her away from me.
"You know, you're right. How wrong of me to call you a douchebag. Because a douchebag is too nice a word for you," she smiled a sweet mile toward me. "You're a dickhead."
I smile, a real smile, but just for a moment. But the smirk doesn't leave me no matter how hard I try. Damn, this girl is awesome. I gaze toward her with a renewed appreciation, "A dickhead? How charming."
She flipped me off and that's it, I laugh again. I can't help myself. This whole situation is funny. She's unlike any human I've ever encountered. She's not superficial or full of herself. She's strong and brave and she doesn't care about what someone else thinks about her. I bet she's also loyal and trusting to those who earn it from her.
"Very civilized, Kitten. I'm sure you have a wild array of interesting names and gestures for me, but I'm not interested."
She just stared at me dumbfounded. She gathers herself and turns away. I could see in her eyes that she could have given it to me much worse than she did. I watch as she stalks across the lawn and back toward her house. Head held high, she doesn't even falter when I call back to her.
"See you later, Kitten," I shouted at her before closing the door, a little harder than I meant to.
I watch out the window as she gets into her car. I can see the flush that covers her face, a sure sign that she's either crying or on the verge of it. I feel awful for making her feel so bad, but I know it's what I had to do. Now if I could just keep Dee away from her, a job easier said than done.
She puts her car in reverse and backs down the driveway.
