AN: Alright! Here's the new chapter, sorry it took so long! I've been really busy.
Also, who else has read the two preview chapters in the back of the paperback version of City of Glass? They both made me jump up and down excitedly, resulting in some very strange looks from people at the bookstore.
.-.-.-.-.-.-. Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience. .-.-.-.-.-.-.
I had to fight not to laugh at the eager look on Magnus's face when Allie asked him to come take a shower. They were so cute together.
"Oh, before I forget, Andy had to run to the station to help Chief with something. He should be back in an hour." Johny told me.
"Darn." I pouted; I wanted a sexy shower to. "Well where's everyone else then?" If I couldn't have a very hot shower with my husband, there had to be something else I could do.
"Ian and Marty are in the pool, I don't know about Kim and Taylor though." He told me. I slid down in my chair, pouting more and crossing my arms. "You are such a little drama queen, Ben." Johny chuckled. I just stuck my tongue out at him in response.
When he didn't provide any advice as to what I should do to ease my boredom I gave up on pouting and wandered out into the living room looking for something to do. It was strange, being back in my elaborate mansion. I'd lived in a debilitated building for two years with only the barest essentials, but now I'd been thrown back into a world where I had everything I wanted times ten. And I didn't know what to do with any of it.
Not that I would admit it out loud, but it was kind of scary being back. I found myself preparing all my food by hand and wanting to cook it over the fire rather then stick it in the microwave or the oven. It required actual thought to do things that were second nature before. The sheer size of my house was daunting compared to the building we'd lived in. Physical effort was required to step out into large open spaces alone. We'd all been to paranoid down there to do that.
It was all very confusing and I found myself really, really wanting Andy to curl up with. But Andy was working. There had to be something else to occupy my time.
"Play the piano." Johny suggested as he walked by me and up the stairs. He pointed to my grand piano sitting in the alcove. It was one of my three grand pianos, another was in Andy and me's room, and the last was in the attic library.
Playing the piano was the only talent I had. Andy said otherwise though, he always lectured me when I said it was my only talent. I smiled slightly, thinking of all the sweet things he said to me about it. Sometimes I would say it was my only talent just so I could hear him say how beautiful and amazing and talented I was, even if I didn't always believe all of it.
I sat down and lifted the cover on the keys, running my fingers along them gently. Someone had taken very good care of my piano while I was gone; there wasn't a single piece of dust on it. Smiling slightly I started to play the first thing that came into my head. It was a song I had written for Andy when we first started seeing each other.
Closing my eyes I let the notes flow out around the room. It felt good to play again; I'd missed it so much. Playing was one of the few things that could help me calm down when I was upset or anxious. The relief of letting my worries flow out through the notes was something I had missed more than most other things.
"You never told me you could play." Allie's familiar voice said softly when the last note had faded away. I hadn't noticed him come back downstairs.
"You never asked." I grinned.
"Well, while you were so busy playing, Andy called you three times." He held up my phone which was blinking unhappily with missed calls. "You need to call him before he has a heart attack." I grinned sheepishly and took the phone from him pressing the call button twice to call Andy back.
"Ben! Are you okay?" Andy sounded frantic. I could also hear the sound of him driving, which more then likely meant he was rushing home because I hadn't answered his calls. Any other time in our lives I would've thought he was being silly, worrying so much, but not anymore.
"I'm fine, Andy. I'm sorry I scared you, I was playing the piano and didn't hear my phone." I told him in an attempt to calm him down.
"So you're perfectly fine?" He still sounded worried.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine." I assured him.
"…alright, I'm sorry I got so worried." I heard the car slowing down in the background.
"Its okay, Andy." I soothed, "You had a right to be worried after everything that's happened."
"I love you." He said softly.
"I love you to, so, so much." I smiled softly. I definitely was not the most secure person in the world and during the last two years I'd been terrified that he wouldn't love me anymore. Now every time I heard him say it, it was like he was saying to me for the first time all over again. The feeling was amazing.
"I'll be home in a few minutes." Andy told me.
"Okay, I'll be waiting." I told him. He told me he loved me again then hung up.
"Hmm, that was much less of a panic attack then I was expecting from him." Allie mused.
"Same, I was expecting a full blown panic attack." I grinned. Allie just chuckled before wandering in the direction of the game room.
"Want to play pool?" He asked as he looked back over his shoulder.
"Nah, I'm going to wait on the porch for Andy to get home."
"Alright." He continued into the game room as I walked to front porch. Quickly I put on a warm jacket, gloves and a scarf before going outside.
I flopped lazily into one of the chairs on the porch, staring eagerly down the long driveway for any sign of Andy. After about ten minutes I started to get antsy, Andy said it would only take him a few minutes to get home. When I tired to call him I only got his voicemail. Briefly I considered going inside to get Allie, but decided it wasn't worth bothering him. Just a quick walk down the driveway was something I could take care of on my own. No one would even notice I was gone before I was able to get back.
My mind made up, I jumped down from the porch, ignoring the steps completely, and started at a brisk pace down the gravel road that served as our driveway. After a five minute walk (and still no sign of Andy) I reached the front gates. The tall wrought iron stretched well over my head, not that that was very hard, and was bordered on each side by a brick pillar out of which sprung a fence stretching into the distance on each side.
There was no sign of Andy in either direction on the road, and I could see quite a ways. I chewed my lip and eyed the key pad that would open the gates. If I left the boundaries of the fence I wouldn't be under the protection of the wards that Johny had established to keep out anyone but the people we let in ourselves. That was a very dangerous idea, with Artemis still out there.
Eventually I settled on trying to call Andy again, almost twenty minutes had passed now since he said he would be home in just a few. Taking a deep breath I tried to focus and push away the thoughts of hatred and abandonment that always swelled up when I didn't know where Andy was, when he wouldn't answer my calls.
It was taking a lot more effort then it used to, two years without him had made me extremely insecure in our relationship. No matter how illogical I knew it was I couldn't help but think that he didn't care about me anymore. That he didn't love me as much after our two years apart.
I took a shaky breath and tried to focus on everything Andy had told me the night before; when I told him that I was afraid he didn't love me anymore.
"Ben, tell me what's wrong. Please." Andy said softly. We were both lying in bed together but I couldn't bring myself to snuggle up with him. Instead I was curled up at the foot of the bed like a dog. When I'd been a sex slave as a child we were all taught to remain at the foot of the bed until requested otherwise by the people paying for our services. It was a hard habit to quell, even though I knew Andy would never treat me like they had.
"Nothing." I mumbled, curling up tighter.
"Ben, don't tell me it's nothing." He chastised gently. I just shook my head and covered my face with my arms. "I won't hurt you like they did, Ben. I love you." Andy was the only person who knew enough about my past to recognize what I was doing for what it was.
"Why?" I mumbled through my arms.
"Why do I love you?" He clarified. I just nodded. "I love you because you're smart, much smarter then I am but you don't put me down because of it or make me feel stupid. I love how exquisitely beautiful you are, you never fail to look amazing no matter what else is going on. I love your smiles, every single one of them. Your guilty smile, your huge grin when you're really happy, your little smirk when I let you top, all of them. I love how much energy you have, how you're always bouncing around and excited. God, Ben, there's so much I love about you. We'd be here for hours if I tried to tell you all of it."
"Really?" I peaked out from between my arms.
"Really." He smiled softly and gently tried to pull my arms away from my face. I let him pull them away and leaned up a tad to meet him the middle for a sweet kiss. He gathered me into his arms and pulled me onto his lap, never breaking our kiss. Finally we broke off for air and I nuzzled into the collar of his shirt, curling up happily in his arms. For me this was the safest place in the world, nuzzled against him with his strong arms wrapped around me.
I knew he was being sincere in what he told me, but I also knew it would probably never really set in. My past made it impossible.
I sighed softly, opening my eyes again. There was still no sign of Andy in either direction so I gave in and pushed in the code to open the gate. It slid open and I stepped through and walked quickly up the road to a place where I could see farther.
After several minutes I finally spotted Andy's car in the distance. I smiled happily and waved, I could just make out his returned wave. Suddenly though he sped up and started honking his horn repeatedly. I frowned slightly, trying to figure out what was going on. Just as I turned to look behind me I felt something slam into my back.
I screamed and thrashed out frantically, trying to get whatever it was off of me. There was a screech of tires and I heard Andy growl as he shifted into his wolf form. I covered my head as Andy leapt towards me and tore my attacker off of me. Rolling onto my back I saw that what he was fighting was a humanoid demon, though I couldn't say what type. The only reason it could've been able to be out was the thick clouds blanketing the sky.
I scrambled towards Andy's car in search of a gun, hoping he had Johny's special made witchlight bullets and condensed magic in it. If it didn't my miniscule runes would keep me from firing the gun. I only had two (one for balance, not that it seemed to help much, and one for sight) since I was only half shadow hunter I couldn't handle more then that, but it was enough to keep a regular gun from firing. Before I could even reach the car I felt something grab my ankle and yank me backwards.
I yelped and flipped onto my backside, kicking out with my free foot. But the demon dodged it and slammed its other hand into my stomach. Wheezing I looked around frantically for Andy only to see him attempting to hold his own against five more humanoid demons. He was already covered in blood from himself and the demons. I started to scream as loud as I could, hoping my voice would carry all the way back to the mansion through the cold winter air.
The demon that was holding onto my leg continued to punch me with it's free hand, grinning maliciously as I yelped in pain. Eventually it finally occurred to the thing that my screaming could draw unwanted attention. I managed to scream one last time before it clasped its hands over my wind pipe. I struggled violently and attempted to kick it off, but it wasn't working, the demon was much stronger then I was.
It's a terrifying feeling, having your air way slowly pressed shut. No amount of flailing and kicking was getting me anywhere and I could feel my brain starting to shut down as my vision blurred. The last thing I heard was Andy yelping in pain, the yelp changing midway into a human scream before he fell silent. The last thing I saw was the blurry form of Andy lying in the snow, his throat slit open.
AN: Poor Ben. I'm so mean to him. -gives him cookies-
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