Officially edited
Victor was given to odd thoughts occasionally, but he was never one to entertain impossibilities. What Dezra was suggesting was impossible. In fact, it was so ridiculous that they could have a history together that he barked out a laugh. She turned her gold eyes his way and stared at him with a frustrated expression. He furrowed his eyebrows and reigned in his scepticism.
"Please Victor, hear me out." She pleaded. Her eyes were wide, as though she was a deer in head lights. "Your presence here in this house, with me, it takes me to places I don't remember. I've seen people I've never met, places I've never been." She looked at him with earnest eyes that showed confusion and desperation. "I wish I could remember who I was. But the more I linger in your presence, the more things return to me." He stayed quiet and patient. "Please tell me I've not gone crazy. Tell me you're remembering things too."
"I don't know about crazy, but I do know that I've seen things too." He pushed open the French doors and stood out on the balcony with his hands on the rail. His eyes scanned the horizon for unnamed things; in that moment, he was every inch the predator that his reputation declared him to be. Dezra came up to stand beside him and laid a pale hand on his hairy arm. The site of their flesh touching, even in such a platonic fashion, excited the beast inside of him.
"Tell me what you've seen." Her whispered words bordered a little too close to a command for his tastes, but he ignored it in favor of telling her what was going on in his mind.
"I went in that room with the locked door." Her eyes narrowed at his admission, but disregarded punishing him because she desperately wanted to hear what he had to say. "I just... picked up that deck of cards that was sitting on the table," He shook his head as the memory threatened to flood him again. "I saw you and two others, but you were young. You were new, but they..." He paused to take a breath and his memory was so powerful, he could still smell the cloves that they kept in the drawers to fight back the scent of the fresh maple finish on the dresser. "They were familiar."
"I remember," She said in response. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Her eyes came open abruptly and she glanced at him sharply. "I smell cloves." He nodded at her baffled expression.
"Vale hid them in all manner of places." The name slipped out unconsciously. They stood there quietly for a moment as Victor savoured the ease with which the name had rolled off his tongue.
"Vale." Dezra whispered the name and was abruptly overcome by the scent of pine and the brisk feel of snow as memory flooded her.
They were playing cards when Victor brought Dezra to their room. Her gold eyes were wide as she took a seat at the table with them. The one to her right spared her a smile before slapping his partner's hand.
"Ah, ah!" Vale paused in his movements at the blond boy's chastisement, brown eyes popping open, "No cheating ya lil sneak." The boy grinned broadly before pulling his hand back and looking at the newest addition. "Name's Zane." He offered a hand that she hesitantly took. The shake was firm and swift.
"Dezra." The boys nodded in unison.
"We know."
"Zane." Victor and Dezra stared at each other in amazement. There was no denying it. They had a common history between them that could no longer be stifled.
"I wonder if we'll remember more memories if we stay together." He thought out loud. The red haired woman nodded her head in agreement before heading back inside.
"You are more than welcome to leave if you wish Victor, but the reality remains. There is old blood connecting us and if we walk away from it now, we may never recover all of our memories." She stared hard at him, gold eyes flickering with mutant fire. "I want to see what else remains. I want to know you and I better." Victor nodded his head in response.
"I'll stay."
Later that night, after everyone had long gone to bed and Victor and Dezra had retired to the bedroom to enjoy their new found physical relationship, the blond man remained awake thinking about all that they had uncovered that day. The red haired spitfire lying across his body had rediscovered more than just memories; she had also reminded him of days before the bloodshed, days when it was just the wilderness and freedom. Those brilliant days before his father had locked him in the basement to try and exorcise the demon from him. His home life had never been grand, but there were times he could recall when he was something close to happy.
Never knew what it was like to have a dad who didn't want to beat me. He mused to himself. He thought about Dezra's children, especially the present ones, and wondered what their lives would be like if he became a permanent figure. Victor wasn't about to change and become a more family type man, but he was inclined to avoid slaughtering the cubs simply to evade their mother's rage.
He thought of Taris, possessive, yet laid back. The boy seemed to be on the cusp of turning into a man, but he had the sense of untried strength and undiscovered powers. He wondered if the boy had a mutation or if he was a normal. He thought of Jade; she seemed to have more attitude than all of her siblings combined and a melancholy personality. She was rebellious and constantly furious. The longer he was around her, the more she became actively snide and displeased. Tori was an unknown element so far. She seemed to enjoy stepping on her mother's toes, figuratively speaking. The little things she did to seek attention and to battle with him in small ways were keeping him balanced on the line between fury and amusement. He wasn't sure if he was keen on the idea of killing her or keeping her around.
Tyler, on the other hand, sent chills up his spine. Everything about the boy irritated Victor. From the way he smelled to the way spoke, he could not stand the child. Whenever he was in the room, the hulking blond went out of his way to leave. Regardless of what Dezra said, he could not remain in the boy's presence without feeling unsettled and slightly sick. Something about him was just wrong. Victory just wasn't sure what it was yet. In the mean time, he was more than willing to stay far away from the child. He looked forward to when the children went back to their school; he could not wait to have their mother all to himself once again.
Thinking of the red head, he rolled over in bed to pull her warm body against his. Her curves fit so easily against his body; he imagined that he couldn't find a better fit than her. She moaned slightly when he stroked his claws lightly over her sensitive breasts. He loved how very aware of him she was. His hand snaked down between her legs and stroked her softly. Her body came alive to him, but she continued to drowse in her dreams. He gently lifted her left leg and slid closer to her on the bed. When he entered her body, she came away with a smile on her face.
"So insatiable." She whispered against his lips after she kissed him passionately. Victor chuckled to himself and thrust into her hard. She gasped and her eyes rolled back in her head.
"Maybe I just like hearing you scream." He suggested darkly, squeezing her hips with his clawed hands. Dezra smiled at him, white fangs peeking out.
"Whatever the reason," She panted hard as she spoke. She was out of breath from the way he twisted his hips. "Don't you dare stop."
So Victor fucked her hard and fast; she screamed his name before he was done.
The next morning, there was visible tension in the house. Jade, normally antagonistic by nature, was tip toeing around the house, doing her very best to not instigate any fights or arguments. The atmosphere was quiet; everyone was whispering and glancing around the room before they said anything. Taris was shutting cabinets a little too hard, his cups were set down just hard enough to clink against tables and counters and every look he sent at Victor was burning.
Victor, on his part, was playing the satisfied cat. He lounged around the house indolently, stealing kisses from Dezra whenever he chose to and staring at her rakishly until she felt as though he was undressing her with his eyes. It was after lunch, when she was doing the dishes and humming to herself that Victor came up behind her. He nipped her ear just a little too hard and broke the skin. She only bled a little bit and the cut immediately healed up, but Taris seemed to be thrown into a rage abruptly. He was staring at Victor, so furious his eyes dilated. The older man casually turned his head to look at the teenager and raised an eyebrow.
"Got something to say, boy?" He asked, mockingly. The blond boy took a step forward before his sister's hand snapped out to grab his wrist.
"Don't be a fool Taris," Tori commanded, blonde ringlets giving her an innocent look despite the superior expression on her face, "He'd destroy you in a fight." Her older brother pulled his hand out of the fourteen year-old's grasp. She shook her head and backed away before she got pulled into a physical altercation.
"Your worries are unfounded Tori, because there will be no fight." Dezra's words, despite their strength and demand, were blatantly ignored by Victor as he stepped away from her and closer to her son.
"If you're gonna do somethin', you might as well do it now. 'Cause I sure as hell ain't gonna give you another chance." His deep, growling voice rumbled through his chest and vibrated through the air. The stench of fear was thick in the air, but Taris wasn't inclined to give in just when he had worked up the nerve to do something.
"You are going to treat my mother with more respect." He declared. He didn't know how painful his beating was going to be for speaking up against the tyrant that was inhabiting their home, but he wasn't going to just sit there and let the man boss his mother around.
"Treat her with more respect huh?" Victor casually reached back to Dezra and yanked her into his arms. Soapy dish water was flung into the air, but she couldn't care less because he pulled her against him and kissed her like he wanted to consume her. He slowly released her when he finished sucking on her lips.
"She deserves better than a brute like you treating her like some common whore!" Taris raised his voice because his anger flared. Beside him, Tori put her hand on his shoulder and tried to calm him down.
"Just relax Taris. Don't you think mom would say something if she was displeased?" Her logic was without fault, but her brother was too far gone in his rage to stop now. The boy picked up the lamp that was sitting on the side table and hurled it Victor abruptly. The man snatched it out of the air and set it down on the counter top without breaking a light bulb.
"Taris!" Dezra gasped out in astonishment. She shucked off her yellow gloves and threw them on the counter. She stormed towards her son and grabbed his hand. She dragged him up the stairs with all the force of a determined mother and shoved him in his room. "I want you to stay here until you calm down. When you are, I'll be up here to have a conversation with you."
After she shut the door, she walked back down stairs and met the vaguely traumatized eyes of her youngest daughter. Tori reached up and pushed her blonde bangs out of her eyes, watching her mother cautiously with wary blue eyes. By the time Dezra reached her side, she was calmed down enough to think rationally about what just happened, but she was still amazed by the force of nature that was her mother.
"Mom, you're crazy." The girl smiled brightly at Dezra before flinging herself into her arms. They embraced each other for a long moment, slowly rocking side to side with a comfort that only a mother and her daughter can experience.
"He's gonna have to learn respect for me eventually. You're only delaying the inevitable in the mean time." Dezra met Victor's eyes and glanced upstairs.
"I want you to go upstairs as well Victor. We need to have a conversation." She then released her daughter and led the way up the carpeted stairs; her heart beating a terrified rhythm every step of the way.