(A/N: DS is being lazy and not updating quickly…. Lalalalalalaa…… *sweatdrop*
Why are you all walking toward me with lances and swords?)
Rahab leaned back lazily in his seat, laughing softly at Tansy's antics. "I don't believe," he said quietly, "that we've properly introduced ourselves to you ladies. My name is Rahab. Mister Thong there," he pointed a claw at Zephon, "is Zephon."
"So who's the bully with the up-do?" Ky asked, earning herself a death glare from Dumah.
"Bite me," Ky snarled at the aforementioned glarer. Dumah bared his fangs.
"Only too happy to oblige."
"He's called Dumah… um…" Rahab looked worried by the growing tension between Dumah and Ky. "The little bald one is named Melchiah, the man with white hair is our father, Kain, the gentleman with his hair falling into his eyes is Raziel, and that one there," he gestured toward Turel, who was examining the phone book, "is Turel."
"Why's he looking at the phone book?"
"You humans keep a record of where each of you lives… and your 'phone numbers,' whatever those are?" Turel was amazed. "So you could easily locate someone?"
"That's the idea," Ky affirmed.
"Are you in the phone book?" he asked.
"Not in this one," Tansy said softly.
"Well, why not?"
"Unlisted!" Ky said quickly.
Twenty minutes later, Tansy had introduced herself to the vampires, Ky had properly introduced herself to the men, and Tansy was insisting that it was high time they all got to bed.
"Alone?" Zephon joked.
"Alone." Tansy was dead serious.
"Ah, fine. But don't you come running to me at the crack of dawn, 'cause I already offered, hun!"
Ky blinked at him. "You are just asking to get smacked across the face, you know that?"
"No more than you," he answered smugly. Ky looked at her sister's face, saw her twitching eye, and grabbed Tansy's arm.
"Well, we'll just be heading up to our rooms, so good night. As I said to Turel and Zephon, there are twelve guest bedrooms on the first and second floor all together. Take your pick."
Ky dragged her sister away from the men and upstairs. They heard the third floor door slam shut. Ky sighed deeply and leaned against the door, looking at her sister. She breathed in deeply and Tansy looked at her.
"Ky, just what have you gotten us into?"
"I have no idea."
Tansy turned on her heel and began straightening the curtains that covered the nearby window. Ky suggested she go out with Zephon, and Tansy whipped around to face her sister.
"What… did… you… say?"
"After all, Tans," Ky went on, deliberately ignoring her sister's question, "I haven't seen you get that angry at anyone but me and that one guy you went out with a while back."
"What one guy was that?"
"Oh, the cute one you hung out with all the time… Mm, I think his name was Adrian, wasn't it?"
"Oh," Tansy muttered, as a look of deep loathing crossed her face. "That dirty S.O.B."
"Eh? I thought you liked him?"
"Not anymore…"
"Ah," Ky stated in surprised acceptance. "Yeah, but the point is, you two met in a fight, and you were always in the middle of one with him. You both seemed to thrive on it."
"He dumped me on Valentine's Day!" Tansy snapped. "VALENTINE'S FREAKIN' DAY! You just don't do that, it's not nice…"
Ky sighed. "No, it's not. Sorry I brought it up." She didn't say anything for a moment, and then she smiled mischievously. "…You should still go out with Zephon!"
"What?" Tansy had gone back to straightening curtains and hadn't been paying full attention. Then she caught on. "No! Keyword is no!"
"I'm not absolutely telling you to," Ky commented. "I'm just suggesting you do."
"But Ky, Issy's so much nicer!"
Ky sighed again and rolled her eyes. "Tans, I hate to break it to you, but you're a Nephilim! You're downright evil!" Tansy opened her mouth to say something, but Ky cut her off, continuing with, "Even more so than I am! Do you really think that relationship's going to work?"
"Well, sure!" chirped Tansy. "Look at Romeo and Juliet! Their relationship worked out fine until Romeo bumped off Tybalt!"
"But the point of that story was the love was doomed from the beginning. Romeo even basically says it when he talks about the stars being an ill omen. He just doesn't know what yet. That's why Romeo and Juliet was one of the greatest love stories. Because everyone else knew it was doomed the moment it started."
"Good point…" Tansy said slowly, almost reluctantly. "However…"
"However what, Tansy?"
"I'm not Juliet, and Issy's not Romeo!" Tansy crowed, before sauntering into her room. She stuck her head out of her bedroom door and made a face at Ky before retreating into what she called her 'cave.'
"No," Ky muttered sadly after Tansy had retreated. "You're Orpheus and Eurydice…"
Tansy flopped down onto her bed, reached under her pillow and pulled out her diary.
"I see Ky's been reading you again…" she said out loud to the book. "It's a shame I haven't written in you in over a month, now, isn't it?" Laughing (Tansy found it amusing that she was talking to a book like she expected it to answer), she reached for a green ink pen she kept on her nightstand and began to write.
"Dear Diary,
I have got to find a better hiding place for you, as on my nightstand is a bit obvious. And Ky can't even bother to put you back where she found you.
Speaking of Ky, she's reached some new extremes, even for her! Remember how I told you she started working at that strip club? Well, she met two guys there and brought them home! Didn't occur to her they could be axe-murderers or anything, she just brought them in! And then… THEN she let them stay with us, AND she let them go find their family (they have four brothers and their father with them), AND she's letting them all stay with us! I'll admit it makes things much less dull around here… although I swear that if that rat Zephon comes anywhere near me, I'll maim him!
Even if he is kinda cute…. in a perverted old man way.
And Zephon's brother Dumah! He's our generation's Jack the Ripper, I swear! I get the feeling he'd be ceaselessly attacking Ky if he could! I'll just have to keep him busy with household chores…
I personally think they're all murdering madmen… What has Ky gotten us into this time?"
"You always think I'm getting us into things, Tansy!" sighed Ky's voice from the doorway. Tansy turned and glared at her twin, realizing that she must have said the last sentence aloud. "You just don't trust me," Ky went on, in a tone of mock sorrow.
"Of course I don't!" Tansy retorted.
"Hey!" Ky muttered, and then she feigned sniffling, "I'm unloved!"
"Not unloved," Tansy corrected. "Just… not trusted."
"Same thing! Hey, what are you writing?"
"Light cues!" Tansy said hurriedly, snapping her diary shut. "For the guy in the light booth! So he knows when to change the lights!"
"Oh really?" Ky asked, with an eyebrow raised.
"Really!"
"Hm… I'll bet. You just wait until you go out for practice!"
"On Monday!"
"Which is two days from now," Ky chirped. "And you're doing your show this weekend…"
"Yeah, and?" Tansy's irritation was rising by the second.
"Oh, nothing! I'll just skip off to bed now…"
Tansy shut her door behind Ky and looked around for a new place to hide her diary. She noticed the dust jacket of a Harry Potter novel lying on her bureau. It was the dust jacket for the first novel in the series, and it was just about the right size to cover her diary.
"Bingo!" she whispered. Tansy stealthily slipped the dust jacket onto her diary and headed back downstairs to hide it in a bookcase. She was confident that Ky wouldn't suspect a thing… and that the brothers and their father had much better things to do than read 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'
Tansy had managed to hide the diary without incident, and she was positive that she could get back to her room without meeting anyone, as the halls were silent, and it seemed as though everyone had gone to bed. She half tiptoed, half ran back toward her room (silently thanking her mother for forcing her to take ballet with every step) until she ran into someone.
"Ouch…" Rahab's voice muttered. "That's the second time today we've had a collision, Miss Tansy!"
"What are you doing up?" Tansy half-whispered, half-snapped.
"I was about to ask you the same thing!"
"You tell me first, Rahab!"
"Well, I was using the facilities," Rahab said calmly. "Now you tell me what you were doing up. And downstairs. Your commodes on your floor are working, aren't they?"
"I was putting a book back on the shelf… I just finished it." It was half-true; she had just shelved a book.
"Oh, really? Which one?"
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame!"
"Sounds interesting," Rahab murmured thoughtfully.
"Oh, it's very good!" Tansy informed him. "Now, uh… I really need to get to sleep, Rahab. Excuse me."
"Of course!" Rahab smiled, moving aside so Tansy could walk past him. "Pleasant dreams, Miss Tansy."
"You too," Tansy said.
She already liked Rahab a lot better than she liked Zephon. Tansy quickly headed into her bedroom, and Ky peeked around a corner and snickered maliciously.
'Fine then,' she thought to herself. 'No Zephon, but you seemed to like Rahab just fine, Tans.'
She waited until silence fell, then headed down the stairs noiselessly. It was time she learned a bit more about this 'Rahab' and found out what he liked so she could set her sister up with him. She hopped down stairs, then paused and smirked. She abruptly rolled in a tight ball past an open door and raced into an open doorway, then glanced out in the hall. All the while, she had begun singing the "Mission: Impossible" theme. She darted down the hall toward the first floor stairs, then sidled along the wall downstairs. She rolled through the main room and landed on her chest and stomach in the hall.
Suddenly, the lights flicked on above her. She looked up to see the eldest brother, Raziel, who was blinking down at her curiously.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"I'm living in my own world," she retorted. "Lemme lone."
He simply looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. Ky, feeling silly, stood up and brushed herself off.
"Actually, I was trying to get info on one of your brothers to try and hook my sister up with him."
Something shifted in his eyes, and she recognized the emotion there: amusement. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"And which brother of mine are you plotting on tormenting?"
"Well, right now?" she asked curiously. "I wasn't so much plotting on tormenting one. I just wanted to get more information on one."
He smirked slightly as he inquired, "Which one?"
She paused, eyeing him quietly, wondering if she should divulge her information or not, then decided with that malevolent smirk he was giving her, she might get his help.
"Rahab."
He looked genuinely surprised a moment, then glanced away and laid a finger against his face as he thought. The smirk had disappeared, but it quickly reappeared and spread into a malicious smile. Ky recognized that smile; it was the same smile she would have given someone had they suggested hooking her own sister up with someone.
"You're going to help me, aren't you?"
"Oh yes."
He led her back into the kitchen and the two sat down at the table.
"Hm… Rahab. Now he's one of our more… pleasant brothers. He's quite a little bookworm, but he has a tendency of avoiding the sunlight. All vampires are hurt by strong rays, but Rahab's even more so—"
"Woah, woah, woah," Ky interrupted. "You're vampires?"
He blinked at her a moment, then nodded as if it was an obvious secret she should have gotten a long time ago. Ky's eyes widened at him and an amused smile crept over his lips. A second later, one of her eyes started twitching before she let her head fall to hit the table with a muffled thump.
"Oh, Tansy's going to kill me when she finds out this little piece of information."
Raziel steepled his fingers as he looked down at her. "Are you going to back out of this?"
"Ah hell no." She sat back up in the chair again. "If she's going to kill me, I might as well have a little fun before I die."
"Why will she kill you because of us being vampires?"
"Oh, yeah, well, she's unhappy enough with me as it is for opening up the house to you boys. But if she finds out your vampires… Her house rule on that topic is 'No supernatural creatures at all, ESPECIALLY demons and angels. Only Daddy and Issy'."
"Who is this 'Issy' your sister keeps referring to?"
"Oh, Issy is her nickname for Israfel. He's an angel of music she's got a crush on."
One fine eyebrow crooked upward as Raziel clarified, "So, he's a mortal human with the voice of an angel?"
"Oh no," she responded calmly, waving a dismissing hand at the notion. "He's actually an angel. He's one of the main angels who checks up on us every so often."
"Ah-ha," he murmured, not sure whether to believe the woman or not. He abruptly shook his head.
"Back to the discussion about fixing your sister and my brother up…"
"Ah yes." Ky grinned and leaned toward him as they whispered between each other conspiratorially.
From outside the kitchen, leaning calmly against the wall near the doorway, Rahab shook his head slightly and chuckled. Well, this could certainly be used to his advantage. Of course, he'd have to wait until the sun rose and Tansy woke up, but if anything, he was patient.
Tansy woke and stretched before rolling out of bed slowly. She stood and glanced around at her room to make sure everything was neat and tidy and as when she went to bed. She yawned and quickly changed before opening her door.
Suddenly, something dropped from above her door and banged her in the nose. She pulled away, rubbing her nose, and looked up to see a bouquet of flowers hanging from above her door. She looked up as she heard a chuckle from further into the hall. She peered around the flowers, moving them irritably out of the way, and spotted Rahab standing in the shadows.
"I know you said we weren't allowed up on the third floor," he began, "but I thought I might inform you of your sister's plan now." He indicated the flowers near her head. Tansy sighed.
"What is my sister doing now, and why the hell are these here?!"
"Your sister has apparently teamed up with my eldest brother Raziel to try and, what was the saying?, fix us up. They placed the flowers there in my name earlier this morning."
Tansy swore to herself quietly, then breathed in deeply, attempting to get a grip on her annoyance. Rahab spoke up as her breathing slowed.
"It seems also that you have a rule on supernatural guests that we were not aware of, so I felt that it was quite time to tell you. You mustn't be too angry with your sister; she found out only yesterday, but you should know. My family are all vampires."
Her sister… had invited… vampires to their house?! Tansy let out a noise of rage as the anger and fear built up in her body. Vampires, bloody VAMPIRES. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and for a short time, her brain decided it was about time to take a break from reality.
Tansy roused to a gentle, but incessant voice. She opened her eyes and peered blearily at Rahab. She was on her back on the ground, and he was apparently holding her head up from hitting the ground.
"If you'll excuse me," she stated, her voice gritty, "I have to go annihilate my sister."
She pushed herself up away from Rahab and walked stiffly toward the stairs to the second floor. She sped to a power walk when she hit the second floor, and by the time she was nearing the stairs to the first floor, she was running full speed, the look of a woman possessed on her face.
"KY!" she bellowed into the still air. From downstairs, Ky's eyes widened and she stood, looking up worriedly.
Tansy's dead-run was cut off suddenly, as she found a large arm wrapped loosely about her waist, keeping her from going anywhere. She glared back and up to see the golden eyes and the long white hair of Kain.
"I do realize this is none of my business," he purred softly. Tansy struggled against his grip.
"Fine! Lemme go kill her!"
Kain's grip tightened and she stopped struggling and turned back to look up at him. He smiled malevolently down at her.
"You know, turnabout is fair play…"
She ceased moving and met his gaze.
"What do you mean?"
Seeing her off her warpath, he released her and indicated for her to follow him. Curious, and burning with the desire to get back at Ky, she followed.