Lev, in his hurry to fetch Lori to help him in his explanation, had left Adelaide to dress herself. It was a curious situation he had put himself in, indeed. The blood on his sweater kept him from leaving the house, the innocent people walking by would suspect something that wasn't true at all should he leave the house, it was human nature. Lev smiled, they were rather stupid beings.
He settled for leaning out the living room window, yelling for Lori who was a block away by then. He could see her outline walking in that sultry walk, he knew she was trying to look as good as possible, she knew he was watching her. She was a pretty girl, Lev had to admit. Her blonde hair matched her personality, she was a natural woman who pulled it off quite well. Lev appreciated things that were natural.
It was inevitable. From the moment Lori heard Lev's voice calling out for her, she knew she was going to end up going back. It was frustrating to her, the hold that he had over her. The long talks, the lingering gazes, everything he did with her enveloped her and left her marked for life. She would never forget him, she prayed he would never forget her. After all, they were meant for each other. She was made for him, she was everything he needed.
Her pace slowed, the clicks of her heels on the sidewalk became more spacious, the time it took for her footsteps to fall was growing. Finally, she stopped and turned around. "That's my girl." Lev murmured, holding the door open for her as she walked past him. She smiled half heartedly at him, he smirked in reply. "Adelaide is upstairs dressing. She should be finished in a matter of minutes."
"You're going to tell her, then?" Lori's eyes bore into Lev's. He watched her, unmoved, he wasn't intimidated in the least; Lori was the first to break the stare. Her eyes trailed down to Lev's hand that hung at his side, she wanted to grasp it so badly.
"I owe her that much, don't you think?" Lev said, his voice smooth and convincing. He turned abruptly, his back to Lori as he walked up to the picture frames on the foyer walls. He took them in, the little boy running in the grass, the girl in her early teenage years smiling at the camera from behind a picnic table. He examined the serious senior picture on the wall the longest; the girl with the dark hair, her green eyes looking directly into the camera with a serene aura. "I won't allow this to go any further, you see. It's getting to be too traumatizing."
"She's going to be traumatized no matter what." Lori laughed, throwing her arms in the air and spinning around, her arms folding. He was impossible, utterly impossible.
"We shall see, hmm?"
Adelaide paced around her room, her arms crossed across her chest, her face hard with anger. Just a while before, she had bravely ventured into the bathroom, it was completely clean. It was starting to get infuriating, it was obvious that she wasn't just going insane. She could have handled going insane, somehow, someway, she would have dealt with it and moved on, recovered, even. This, however, the complete ignorance of what was going on around her, the understanding that everything that had happened was real, it was too much for one sane person to take.
Adelaide could hear Lev and Lori's footsteps on the stairs, they came with a knowledge Adelaide didn't have, that one fact made her irate. She knew nothing while they knew it all, Lori surely knew more about Lev than Adelaide did, and that made her feel a little ridiculous.
Lev walked through her bedroom door first, he was the unfortunate receiver of Adelaide's thrown, bloody towel. It smacked him in the chest, his arms catching it just before it fell to the ground. He looked from the towel to Adelaide, astonishment on his eyes for a brief second. "What's gotten into-"
"I know nothing about you!" Adelaide screamed at him. Her hair was wet still, it was unruly and flailing this way and that as she thrust her body around in her anger.
"Well," Lev began, even more unsure now than he had been just a moment before. He cocked his head and tossed the towel onto a nearby chair. "What is it that you want to know?"
"I don't know!" Adelaide huffed, pulling at her hair and grunting. She paced back and forth over and over, still ignorant to what she wanted to know. Lev had taken a seat in the chair that belonged to the writing desk in the corner. His legs were spread, his elbows connected to his knees in a relaxed yet concentrated sort of way. His palms, pressed together, were at his mouth, bouncing off his lips a few times. His eyes never left Adelaide. "Tell me why every time you're around me, something bad happens."
"I can't explain that right now." Lev said honestly, his eyes full of regret. "Anything else?"
"What's your real name?"
"Lev."
Adelaide wanted to scream. "Your full name, smart ass."
Lev suppressed a smile, Adelaide was an interesting character. "My name is Leviathan."
Lori gasped. She'd asked that same question at least one hundred times, never receiving an answer. Usually, his excuse was that it was irrelevant, that she knew what to call him and he knew what to call her, what else was necessary? The other times she had asked he has slithered out of answering by busying himself with something, or simply pretending not to hear her. Adelaide had asked once. Lev had answered without hesitation.
Adelaide searched her mind for another question. Now that he was sitting in front of her, she had nothing to ask, it was as if everything she wanted to know previously didn't really matter now. Lev was watching her with those glacial eyes, they rose Adelaide's anxiety level to an insane height, she could feel herself shaking. "Do you wear contacts?"
Lev couldn't help but laugh at the question, his jubilant laughter filled the room; his giant smile showed his perfectly white teeth. His eyes had closed in his joy, and his hands fell to his knees, Adelaide could feel the blush filling her face. He looked at her as his laughter died down. "Millions of things to be told, Adelaide Nyles, and you ask if I wear contacts?"
"It's just-" Adelaide paused and looked at Lori, who was also giggling while sitting on the bed. She looked at Lev adoringly. It gave Adelaide a weird feeling. "What's going on with you two, then? If you refuse to answer my first question."
That had thrown Lev off. He didn't expect the questioning to be about him, on the contrary, he expected to be somewhat absent in the conversation he was having. Instead, Adelaide asked about him, and Lev could tell by the look on her face that she was only concerned with matters concerning him at the moment. Guilt was showing itself in Lev's stomach, he hadn't felt that way in years.
"By 'you two' you mean Lori and I, I assume." His voice was velvet as he began to explain. "We're great friends, Lori and I. Alas, she has a wonderful man already; Drew, correct?" he turned to Lori with curious eyes, his eyebrows raised and his lips pursed ever so slightly. Lori, on the other hand, gaped at him. Her mouth wide open, her eyes equally wide. Lev's lips pulled into a sly grin, his eyes narrowing, giving him a look of utter sensuality. He turned back to Adelaide.
"Why is it that you're always alone? Don't you have family, or something?" Adelaide intended on taking full advantage of Lori's silence, the questions were coming much easier now that she didn't have to worry about Lori staring at Lev.
"My relatives," Lev sat and thought how to answer. He moved his arm to the left, open palmed and searching. "They live a good distance from here."
"Mom? Dad? Siblings?"
"I have two brothers."
"That's all?"
"That's all." Lev stated, nodding slightly. He shook his head. "Not entirely, I suppose. My father is no longer present in my life, shall we say."
Adelaide decided not to press the issue. She nodded, and walked to the window, looking out onto the beautiful day. "Where do you live now?"
"I bought a house outside of town to the east." Lev had stood and walked over to the window to join Adelaide. "It's nothing spectacular, of course, but it certainly is enough for me." He smiled down at her.
Adelaide looked down. "Why did you leave me the other day?"
Lev's smile faded, his fingers touched Adelaide's chin and lifted it to look into his eyes. "You have to understand this, Adelaide," he began. "I was all but forced to leave."
"By my dad?" Adelaide's voice was urgent.
"No, no," he chuckled, "My brother, in fact. He was in an impatient mood that day, and needed me right that moment. You will see, when you meet him, just what kind of man he is."
Adelaide was suddenly nervous. "I'm meeting your brother?"
Lev snickered and released Adelaide's jaw to walk away, sitting in the place he had previously been. He looked over at Adelaide with a look that said "are you going to continue?" Adelaide accepted that he was not going to answer her question.
Adelaide ran a hand through her hair and re-crossed her arms, hugging herself tightly. Lori sat on the bed, still dumbfounded by Lev's earlier answer to a question regarding her. She stared at empty space, her eyes glossing over, she was clearly unfocused. Adelaide watched her for a little while, wondering what could possibly be going through her head at that point in time. Lev was starting to get restless.
He didn't move, he sat as stiff as a marble statue would, his eyes fixed on Adelaide in a glare, though his eyes were soft and patient. She smiled at him. He really was gorgeous.
"Do you think I'm going crazy?" She leaned against the window sill. "I feel like I am."
"No, au contraire," Lev vocalized, his eyebrows raising a bit again, "I believe you to be one of the sanest people I know."
"But you don't really know me at all." Adelaide pointed out. "We don't really know each other."
"That could easily change." Lev offered, tilting his head to the right slightly, flashing her a quick smile before turning to Lori.
Lori's expression had changed from shock to complete repulsion. She threw a particularly disturbing glance at Adelaide while she began to speak to Lev. "I'm going to go." she spat, standing and walking toward the door. "After all, my man Drew is coming over later."
"All right," Lev said, grunting as he stood. Adelaide watched him as he walked toward Lori, extending an arm. Lori eyed him suspiciously before taking his hand and being pulled into a tight hug. "Don't be so quick to dismiss me, please."
"I'm not dismissing you." Lori whispered back, loving his secret attention. Adelaide stared at the two deep in their embrace, she shifted her weight to one leg after launching off the wall, an irritated look on her face. Lori closed her eyes and nuzzled into Lev's chest just as his arms unwrapped from around her tiny waist. "I'll talk to you later, then?" she asked, looking hopefully up into Lev's sculpted face.
"Of course." He grinned as Lori turned to leave, walking out of the bedroom door and down the hall to the stairs. Lev waited until he heard her shut the front door to turn to Adelaide, his face somber and serious.
"Where were we?" Adelaide giggled, Lev's face remained serious.
"You were asking me questions, if I'm not mistaken." He sat back down in the chair, this time moving the bloody towel over to keep from getting more blood on his already stained sweater.
"Right." The room suddenly felt awkward, his stare was more of an examination of sorts, his eyes looking over her completely. She fidgeted uncomfortably. "Lori seemed… Annoyed."
"She's a great girl." He was deflecting. Adelaide had taken psychology classes for the charter school program her high school provided. Not only had she taken psychology, but she had taken a sociology class and another human behavior class. She watched Lev curiously, attempting to use all that she'd learned to get inside of his intricate mind.
"Yeah, she's nice." Adelaide walked across the room and sat Indian style on her bed facing Lev. Her posture wasn't nearly as sure as Lev's, but it was definitely more comfortable, she thought as she watched him watching her. The two held the gaze until Adelaide smiled slyly. "What were you guys doing, anyway?"
"I enjoy taking walks." Lev said, returning the fox-like smirk.
"Lori doesn't." Adelaide replied. She knew for a fact that Lori hated physical activities like that, she thought they were pointless, it wasn't like her workouts at home. She had referred to innocent strolls as a waste of time many times over.
"Perhaps she's grown fond of them over the past few days." Lev suggested. "People change their minds about things too often."
Adelaide wasn't quite sure what to say. He had a point and she couldn't know for sure that Lori hadn't taken a random liking to walking around, the girls hadn't spoken in days; not since Adelaide informed her of Lev's disappearance. She shrugged, accepting his explanation for a possible truth.
"I wasn't able to finish my walk, unfortunately." Lev said, looking down to the side and thinking. He looked back up at Adelaide and smiled. "I had to rescue someone. I suppose I could be called a hero, or something."
"A hero, huh?" Adelaide teased. "That's quite the title. The least that someone could do is finish your walk with you. I mean, you did save her, after all."
"That would be lovely."
The two walked across town and back, going from the outskirts of town to the very edge of downtown near Chinatown before deciding to turn back. They exchanged opinions on various matters; music, the economy, politics, celebrities and their antics. They told their favorite things, Adelaide laughing when Lev disclosed that his favorite color was a light blue. He smiled as she laughed openly, when asked what she found so funny, she simply said "I thought of something else completely unrelated." They both laughed together.
On the way back, they had stopped for ice cream. Adelaide had insisted on it once she learned that Lev had never tasted the infamous "lemon-chocolate twist" soft serve ice cream that belonged to George's Ice Cream Parlor. As the cashier handed Lev and Adelaide the uniquely blended cones, Adelaide pushed him to try it before the weather melted it. Lev hesitated.
"Are you sure this is even edible?" He asked, turning the cone in his hand to examine the yellow and brown twist. "It seems, toxic, if you will."
"Oh, grow up." Adelaide said, rolling her eyes. "It's not toxic." She laughed and watched as Lev raised an eyebrow, a small grin hidden on his lips.
"I think you're trying to kill me, actually."
"I wouldn't be eating it if it was toxic. Just eat it." She smiled as he brought the cone to his lips and tasted it, groaning. He pulled the cone away from his lips immediately, coughing and grasping his throat theatrically.
"You've killed me!" He moaned, throwing himself into the lamppost to his left. "She's killed me!" the middle-aged woman across the street hurried her pace, turning away from Lev just as hastily, attempting to ignore the pair across the street roaring in laughter.
Adelaide smacked his stomach playfully. "Come on, you're going to make me the talk of the neighborhood. She lives two houses down from me!"
"Don't want the world to know you're a murderess?" He winked at her.
That simple gesture made Adelaide's body twitch. A long shiver was sent down her spine, her eyes closed momentarily as her breath and heart rate quickened. She gasped, she had nearly dropped her ice cream in the motion. She quickly turned to Lev, his stride had not been broken at all. He continued to walk alongside her as if nothing had happened at all. She stopped.
Lev stopped, his head turning to look over his shoulder before he turned completely. Adelaide had stopped, she stared at him with wondering eyes that met his equally quixotic eyes. "Is something wrong?"
Adelaide shook her head. She felt strange, but it definitely wasn't a bad feeling. She smiled. "No, sorry." She caught up to Lev and the two continued to walk. "Just felt light headed all of a sudden for some reason."
"It's the ice cream." Lev concluded. They laughed as Adelaide's house came into view, the tall posts of the wrap around porch getting more defined with every step they took. She wasn't ready for the experience to end, part of her wanted to stay with him until he forced her to leave. It was odd for her, only hours before she couldn't bare to think of him, yet here she was, walking down her street with him, laughing, making jokes, flirting, even.
When her feet met the front steps of her house, Lev stood on the sidewalk, looking up at Adelaide who had reached the top of the stairs in a matter of seconds. "Did you want to come in?" she asked. He shook his head.
"I shouldn't."
"It really doesn't matter," Adelaide said, hoping to convince him. "My parents aren't even home yet."
"Are you trying to seduce me, Adelaide?" He teased, looking falsely astonished. He brought his hand to his chest theatrically and stepped backward a step, his mouth gaping, his eyes narrow and predatory.
"I- What? No, that's not what I- No!" her words jumbled together, she wasn't able to form a correct sentence. She cursed herself silently as he laughed.
"Calm down, calm down," he said amongst bursts of chuckles that made Adelaide smile. He was a truly happy person. "I was only kidding."
"Then you'll come inside?"
"No, I really must be going. It's getting late, and I've a while to walk before I get home." He stated. "We will have to do this again sometime soon."
Adelaide's stomach filled with butterflies. "Yeah, definitely."
"I'll see you, then." Lev said before smiling and walking down the sidewalk.
Once inside, Adelaide leaned against the door, sliding down it. She reminded herself of a television show, the dramatic scene when the leading lady just returned from a date with the suave leading male. He had swept her off her feet, and the background music would be soft, but fluttering. She laughed at herself, she hadn't been in a mood this excellent in a while.
She stood, walked out of the foyer and into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator door to look for something to eat. It was reflex, considering she wasn't hungry at all, but it gave her something to do with herself while she thought over the past few hours. They were magnificent.
Leviathan. She thought repeatedly. Leviathan, Leviathan, Leviathan.
An exotic name for an exotic man.
Lev, Leviathan, whatever his name was, she was elated to know that he wanted to spend time with her, Adelaide. Adelaide and Lev, Lev and Adelaide. Leviathan and Adelaide, Adelaide and Leviathan. There was a ring to the combination of names that Adelaide loved, it rolled of her tongue so well. She found herself whispering it, the same thing each time. Adelaide and Lev, Lev and Adelaide. Leviathan and Adelaide, Adelaide and Leviathan.
