RedJewel2662 – You can expect more of this action in the near future. But don´t be too sure about your first impression.
Chapter 49a A date with the evil
That night Maria couldn´t sleep peacefully. Her dreams were filled with painful memories and dark visions. She witnessed again the murder of her mother, but this time it was the expressionless face of her human mother staring back at her. Her human father was motionless lying besides her. His empty eyes seemingly boring through her soul. Sadly she faced the monster across from her and let her body tremble from the rage slowly crawling up from the pit of her stomach and making his way towards her hands. She felt her power errupting from somewhere deep down in her and was just waiting to be used. But just as she wanted to unleash the most powerful blast she ever had, the person changed. Now it was Rath standing in front of her and he had the same look in his eyes when the sword went through his flesh. Immediately Maria jumped into action and wrapped her hands around his body to prevent him from crashing to the ground. Unfortunately he was pretty heavy and she collapsed together with him on the floor. Desperate she tried to find the injury like she did back then and checked him for any kind of wound that she could heal. Her hands shook when she ripped the white t-shirt from his torso. She didn´t even noticed that Rath wasn´t wearing his armour like he did the last time they saw each other alive. All she could see was the many blood streaming down his body and dripping on the ground beneath them. Her hands were soaked with it while she felt for a cut, a hole or even a scratch. But she couldn´t find anything, because the blood was keeping her from seeing something. Openly crying now she looked at his face and noticed shocked that it wasn´t Rath smiling at her, but Michael. He stretched a bloody hand towards her and stroked her cheek with it. Just as she wanted to lay her hand on it his arm dropped down.
" NOOOOOOOO!".
" Maria! Maria! Open your eyes. It´s just a dream".
Maria sprung up with her torso and was now sitting wide awake on her bed. Her heart was almost trying to escape from her chest, her hands were shaking like leafs and her hair was sticking to her sweatcoated forehead. For a second she wondered where she was and who she was. But then she saw Michael´s face staring worriedly at her. Relieved she jumped into his arms and squeezed him tightly. " Oh my god. I´m so glad that you´re alive".
Michael was confused for a moment and surprised about the strange behaviour. But he felt that it was probably about her dream or rather her nightmare she had been having. Reassuringly he caressed her back and tried to calm her. " It´s alright. Nothing happened. Everything was just a dream".
" It wasn´t a dream. It was a memory. I saw Rath and my mother dying again. But then they changed and I was staring in the dead faces of my human parents and you. I was there when you died", Maria was clutching on her boyfriend like she was drowning. She just wanted to be sure that he was real and not just a figment of her imagination.
Michael slowly rocked her while he searched his still halfway sleeping brain for something he could say to her. " I´m still alive as you have already noticed. Your mind is just occupied with what happened tonight. The appearance of Lykus has just brought up old memories".
Suddenly both startled when the door to the bathroom opened and Kyle stormed through it with a baseball bat in his hand. He was just wearing a pair of white boxer-shorts and his hair was sticking in all directions. " What´s happening? Where is the burglar?".
" Don´t move or I will blast you into million different pieces", Tess was directly behind her boyfriend with her arm outstretched in front of her and a mean glare on her face. She was only clad in an old footballshirt from Kyle and her hair looked like she put her finger into a socket. But despite that she made an appearance like it wouldn´t be healthy to stand up against her.
Michael was just in the process to tell that nobody broke in and nobody was hurt, when the other door was almost ripped from their hinges. Seconds later Jim Valenti was standing in the middle of the room with his weapon drawn and his nephew Sean at his side, who was prepared to punch everybody with his brass knuckles.
Maria would have loved to hide under her blanket. Great! Just what she needed. A damn meeting in her bedroom, because she had a nightmare. " Guys. Nothing happened here. I just had a bad dream".
" Thank god. I already thought someone tried to hurt you according to the scream", Jim dropped his gun and breathed out relieved. He imagined the worse and after the appearance of Billy he thought the bastard had dared to come here again.
Sean wasn´t so willing to release his fighting stance. His glance was staying with Michael. " And what is your boyfriend doing in your bed?".
Maria glared at her cousin and she swore that someday she would do something to him. Someday he would pay for everything he did to her. She just hoped that it was soon, because he needed a good beating. Bastard was trying to infuriate her father on Michael again. " He heard my scream and came to comfort me. We humans called that caring for each other. You should try it someday and maybe you find a girl desperate enough to stay with you".
" Funny", Sean made a grimace towards her. Like he believed that bullshit. " But how do you explain the untouched foldaway bed then? And that Tess is standing behind Kyle, who had been coming through the bathroom door?".
Thankfully Maria was spared to find a plausible lie with the appearance of her mother and her sister. Both in their pyamas and not quite awake yet. Amy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes while she surveyed the scene. " What´s going on here? Is here a secret meeting that I´m not allowed to know about?".
Jim turned away from his daughter and her boyfriend and faced his wife. He must have been scaring her with jumping from the bed and storming out of the room like the devil himself was after him. Slowly he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. " It was just false alarm. Maria had a bad dream. We can go back to bed".
" Are you okay?", Amy eyed her daughter and saw the shadows passing in her eyes. She thought Maria had outgrown the phase were she had horrible nightmares. But obviously it wasn´t like that. The only difference was now that she wasn´t coming to her for comfort. Now she had her boyfriend for that.
Maria smiled reassuringly at her mother. " Yeah I´m fine. Don´t worry".
Jim gripped the arm of his nephew and pulled him out of the room. It was late and now that they knew that nothing had happened they could go back to sleep. " All right. Then we´ll say goodnight and sleep tight".
" Yeah. You, too", Maria waited until the door closed behind her parents before she let herself slump back on her mattress. Seconds later she felt it dip under her and rolled her head to the side. She almost forgot that Tess and her brother were still present.
Kyle had dropped the bat near the door and was now sitting on his sisters bed. The scream had been scaring him to the core. It was like he thought someone was threatening his family and he felt this anger towards this person daring to touch the people he loved. " You almost gave me a heart attack, sister dear. What was the dream about?".
Maria rubbed a hand over her face and finally noticed the sweat covering her forehead. Tiredly she wiped it away and tried to brush her hair back in the process. " Just a nightmare. Nothing out of the ordinary. You know dark places, loud steps and strange noises, that kind of thing".
" I know those dreams. Had them a few times myself. Makes me afraid to go back to sleep everytime", Tess was aware about the fact that her nightmare wasn´t just something ordinary. But her best friend was like her brother in some things and she knew that Maria wouldn´t talk as long as they pushed. She would come to them when she wanted.
Kyle seemed to think the same, because he eyed his sister but didn´t say something. Instead he pushed himself off of the bed and took the hand of his girlfriend. " Okay. If nobody is in danger, we can finally go back to sleep. So goodnight".
Michael winked after them and then turned towards Maria, who was massaging her temples with her fingertips. Careful he laid himself besides her and observed her quietly. The dream had upset her more than she revealed to the outside. Thankfully he was a pretty good reader of feelings, thanks to his gift as an empath. " Are you all right? And don´t try to bullshit me. I know you better?".
Maria faced him with a slight chuckle. He was so damn cute when he acted so concerned about her. Strange that he always seemed to know what was going on inside her when nobody else noticed that something was wrong with her. " I´m better. Tired and a little scared. But otherwise good".
" Then I should protect you and prevent the bad dream from appearing again", smiling brightly Michael wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her deeper in his direction. He enjoyed the fact that her back was tightly pressed at his front and gave him access to do things with her. But he knew that nothing would happen tonight.
Maria was still surprised how much the presence of Michael could make her feel safe and secure. He just had to be near her and she wasn´t afraid anymore. Someday she would ask him what he did to her. But not tonight, she just wanted to sleep. Not sooner did the thought cross her mind did she close her eyes and was carried to a nice, warm place, where her lover was already waiting for her.
Michael heard the even breathing and gave her a quick kiss on the back of her head before closing his eyes, too.
Late in the morning
The guys were just out of the house and tried to catch a few fishes they could throw in the lake again, because nobody had the guts to kill those poor creatures. They just went fishing for the fun and most of all for the womenfree space. Well, it didn´t hurt that they could behave like real man in the the open and nobody was there to complain about it. Maria and her mother imagined their boys scatching themself at some place which couldn´t be seen in public, burped every few seconds and applaud the loudest fart. But they couldn´t be sure, because they weren´t allowed to come along. Actually it was good that Jim and the others were out of the house. Now the women could concentrate on more important things.
" Mum. Can I have your car?", Maria stormed in the kitchen, where her mother, a few of her aunts and her two grandmothers were sitting and probably gossiping about their husbands. All turned towards her when she stepped through the door.
Amy eyed her daughter sceptically and folded her hands on the table near her cup of tea. " And why do you need my car?".
Maria shouldn´t have surprised that her mother would do the twenties question with her. Why was it always an act in this house to get something? It wasn´t like she would take the car and kidnap some guy, hide him in some hotel and rape him. " I want to do something sisterly and go shopping with Lindsey. You know shopping for her date tonight".
" The keys are on the small cupboard in the hall", Amy was a bit disappointed that she wasn´t allowed to go with her daughters. But she was told that it wasn´t cool to go shopping with the mother, especially for a rendezvous. Kids these days. She looked at the clothes Maria was wearing, a black tight jeans and a white twin set, both ending just over her belly button and thought about Lindsey and what appearance she would make. " And don´t let her buy something too revealing!".
Maria gave her mother a loud smacking kiss on the cheek before disappearing from the kitchen and leaving the women among themself again. Fastly she ran up the stairs and got her coat and her handbag. Then she went into her sisters bedroom, where she saw Tess showing Lindsey how she should wear her hair to her date and how much make up she should use to not look to slutty. Chuckling slightly Maria lent at the doorframe and observed them for a while before she made her presence known. " Everybody going to the mall should get in gear now, because I´m not waiting".
Lindsey immediately jumped to her feet and dashed down the stairs, not even paying attention that she almost pushed her sister aside, while Tess stared startled after the retreating back of the young missy. " Did I miss something? Because I could have sworn that your sister had been with me just a few seconds ago".
" Yeah I thought I saw her, too. But I could have imagined it", Maria had always been fascinated with the reaction from Lindsey by the mention of the mall. The glowing and the happiness. Had she been like that when she was a teenager, too?
Tess walked towards her friend with her pink purse, matching her pink off the shoulder sweater and the pink sneakers, on her shoulders. Her jeans was white and huged her curves at all the right places. " I think we should go before she hot wires the car and breakes her mothers heart by becoming just like her older siblings".
Maria grimaced at her friend and then her face cleared and she stormed after Tess. " Hey did you just insult me and my brother?".
The crashdown
Maria parked her mothers car at the marked space in front of the restaurant. Liz had been calling this morning and asked if she could come over, because she wanted to escape her family, like every year since she got old enough to leave the house without prefect. It was almost a tradition between both friends. They met the day after thanksgiving and went somewhere. Mostly they drove to the desert, walked to a cave they had found together with Alex when they were ten years old and spent their time there. And sometimes they just cruised around town and pretended to be tourists. This year they would waste their time with looking for an outfit for the youngest Valenti offspring.
" Why are we stopping here?".
Maria turned around in her seat and glanced at her sulking sister. She was acting like a brat since she noticed that they were not driving directly to the mall. " To get Liz and I have to check something before we can go shopping. But if you want we can go immediately, just that I won´t have enough time then and you know how annoying I can get when I´m in a hurry".
Lindsey crossed her arms over her chest and huffed angrily. She had to choose between getting a beating or be afraid of the beating. Her sister was really mean and she seemed to enjoy her evilness, too. " Do whatever you want".
" Hey, don´t make such a sad face. I promise I will make it short and then we have four hours to spent in the mall", Maria hated when her sister seemed to be mad at her. It was an open wound from her past life and she had carried it over into this life.
Lindsey pouted for a moment longer before the corner of her mouth twitched up and she started to smile. She couldn´t stay angry at her siblings too long, because even if she always complained about them she was glad that she had them. They could be annoying sometimes, but when she look at other siblings she had made a better deal. " All right, you won. But now go and I´ll expect a huge milkshake after the shopping tour".
Maria laughed at her sister. She was really beginning to become like her in some things. " You´ve got yourself a deal", after that faced Tess, who had been observing the sisterly battle with a touch of amusement. " You get Liz and I´ll visit Brody".
" Brody? Why? Did something happen?", Tess had a bad feeling and it intensified the moment she mentioned Lareks human name. What was so important that she had to talk to him? Had it something to do with the fight yesterday? Was this the reason why Michael and Maria acted so strange since the incident? She knew that there had been more to the story than they both had told her and Kyle. She had seen it in her brothers eyes. He was good in most things, but he couldn´t lie to her and she had detected a tang of worry in his glance, something she never had witnessed before.
Maria felt always guilty when she had to lie to the people she cared about. But she had talked to Michael last night and they had agreed to keep everything for them until they had prove. They wouldn´t tell the others anything until they knew for sure that it was something to worry about. " No. I just want to see him. I´ll do that sometimes, you know".
Tess wasn´t so convinced about that. Something strange was going on and even Kyle noticed it already, a classic sign that something looked fishy. " Alrighty. Then I suggest we hurry".
" Okay", Maria turned around to her sister again. " Stay here and lock the doors". Then she and Tess stepped out of the car and walked to their different destinations.
Inside UFO-Center
Maria had already forgotten how much she despised the alien museum and the things displayed there. She had spent a few times here and listened to guest speaker talking about the existence of extraterrestrials, like they were called in higher circles. One or two times she had asked them how they imagined the creatures from space to look like. Everytime she got the same answer. Tall, big black eyes and green. Sometimes she had been so close to show them a real alien and how wrong they were in their assumption. But she knew that would just bring more trouble than it was worth it. Besides when she looked around the huge hall with alien displays standing at every corner, the funny looking slight grey creatures cutting a human being open, the small replica of a flying saucer hanging from the ceiling and the many walls with photos, articles and conspiracy theories, she knew it was what people wanted to see. Like Elvis was a martian and just went back to his homeplanet or Michael Jackson was on earth to make the humans willing. Maria smiled at that. She always believed the theory that the King of Pop was not from this planet and part of his anatomy was alive.
" Hey darling, did you bring me my lunch?".
Maria turned to the voice and saw Larek strolling cockily towards her. His face seemed to glow everytime they saw each other. It was almost sweet. " Sorry. Unfortunately I´m here for business".
The happy expression on his face immediately disappeared. Business always meant alien related things. " What happened?".
" Billy came to my house, yesterday. He was not in his right mind and he threatened Michael. He said some things that worried me a bit. I mean I´m not the paranoid kind of girl, but it scared me", Maria paced in front of Larek like a caged animal. She wringed her hands nervously and she babbled.
Larek didn´t understand why she was so upset. It wasn´t so strange that the ex lover was making an appearance to win his girl back again. And it wasn´t something to be worried about. Especially when the opponent was a human. " And? What has you gotten so worked up? Billy had always been a jerk, so nothing new there".
Maria stopped in her tracks to look at her friend. Her eyes held terror, terror from another life. " He´s not human, Larek. Billy was just a disguise. In reality it was always Lykus".
" You mean your fiance on Antar? What is he doing here? And most of all is he alone?", Larek had a bad feeling in his gut. If Lykus was here on earth there was a possibility that Khivar and the others were, too. This was bad, really bad. They thought they had been so careful with their plan and now it seemed like they had made something wrong at some point or worse had a leak in their circles.
Maria was glad that at least he understood her fear. His mind appeared to be working like hers. " I don´t know if he´s alone or not. I tried to get something out of his cellphone he lost during his escape. But he did something to it and I don´t have access to get into it", she pulled it out of her back pocket and gave it Larek.
He took the black thing and observed it, just to see if Lykus had manipulated the human way or if it was alien. But as far as he could see, it didn´t make the impression that something got changed on it. It was looking like a normal cellphone. " I will look into it. Maybe I can do something".
" Do that and then tell me what you figured out", Maria was a bit relieved. At least for the moment. One point on her list was gone now. But one was still there. " Did you hear something from Nolak in the last few days?".
Larek looked up from eyeing the cellphone and stared at her. Now that was a change of topic. " Yes. We phoned two days ago. Why?".
Maria tried to appear nonchalant, although she was still twisting her fingers together. All right, she was worried. But after the scene from the day before nobody could blame her for being a little cautious. " Michael was calling him this morning and nobody answered. We just wanted to be sure that nothing happened to him".
" You can stop worrying about him. He´s on a trip until Sunday. He calls it investigation. But I know that he´s in Vegas gambling and paying some floosies to please him", well it wasn´t the truth, Nolak was too stuffy for that. He would never have fun without making an appointment in his calendar. The man called learning fun, something Larek never understood. Sometimes he wished his companion would take the stick out of his ass and live a little.
Maria laughed about the picture in her head. She believed much, but Nolak having fun wasn´t it. Or maybe he changed and was now more like Larek. No, that was highly unlikely. Not even in a parallel universe. " Why didn´t you join him then? It sounds like something you would do".
Larek smiled mischievously at her and a small twinkle was appearing in his eyes. In that moment he looked exactly like a small boy standing in the middle of a candystore. " You know I can´t leave the UFO Center and I´m banned from most casinos, because I won too much money there. But it´s not my fault that the ball always hit the number I choose".
" Of course not", Maria knew that it was a lie. Like hell it wasn´t his fault, he used his powers to manipulate the game. It was something Michael would do and they both had been friends for a really long time, which meant they had the same oppinion in most things. Besides Kyle had made a suggestion that she should use her gift at some slot machine and win money for him when they made a trip to Vegas last summer. Maybe it was a guy thing or something.
Larek noticed that she probably didn´t believe him. Well she knew him better than he thought. He just nudged the ball sometimes on the right number. It wasn´t like he stole the money. Okay, so he won the money not so naturally, but he hadn´t done anything wrong, at least nothing illegal. " All right. I cheated a little", after he received a raised eyebrow he continued. " Okay I cheated. Are you satisfied?".
Maria made a gesture like she wanted to say that she hadn´t said anything. But before she could open her mouth the front door was opened with a loud noise. Instinctively she turned around with her hand drawn in front of her body. She was prepared to kill whoever tried to hurt her. Embarrassed she dropped her fighting stance as soon as she noticed that it was just a blonde young woman dressed in the teal waitress uniform from the crashdown. She was carrying a paperback in her right hand and had the stupid antennas on her head.
" Hey Brody. I´ve got your lunch. Galaxy sub with pepperjack, hold the mayo".
Larek smiled at the new arrival. Since Maria wasn´t working at the crashdown any longer, a new waitress was slowly taking over her place. She was nice and not just some ordinary girl. " Hey Courtney. You´re just on time", he felt for his wallet, but noticed that it was probably still in his office. " I just have to get money. Wait here and I´ll get it".
Maria watched after his fleeing backside. He was acting a little strange and that said much about him, because he was odd. Then she eyed the girl besides her, which Larek called Courtney. She was beautiful with her blonde hair and her blue eyes. Her legs were not so long like Marias but nice. She was a little too skinny and coul use some flesh on her bones. But otherwise not so bad to look at. " So, you are the one taking over my job now?".
Courtney turned to little princess checking her out since she came in. What was the girls problem? But suddenly she stared in her green eyes and immediately knew who was standing in front of her. " Oh my god. You´re here. You´re alive".
0
" What? What are you talking about?", shocked Maria stepped a little back from the girl. She felt trapped for a moment and she noticed fear creeping into her body. She was close to use her powers to defend herself.
Courtney realized that her sister was not regnorizing her. No wonder, she was wearing a human suite to prevent her from getting older and she couldn´t pick up her aura. " Don´t be afraid. I don´t want to harm you. I´m Corly".
For seconds Maria mulled over the name and why it was so damn familiar to her. She thought about the palace and the people she knew there. All of the sudden she remembered Corly. She had been a servant and Khivars real daughter. Grinning brightly she embraced the startled young woman " Well hell. What are you doing here?".
" I was around and thought I should pay a visit to my sister", Corly was relieved that Maria was still remembering her and was even glad to see her. She had been a little worried that the meeting would be awkward.
Maria´s expression changed instantly. She almost forgot that Marianna hadn´t had the chance to tell Corly what deep dark secret she had found out and with that the truth about her existence. That they both weren´t related. " I´m sorry. I never had the opportunity to tell you that I´m not Khivars daughter. We´re not sisters".
Corly laid a hand on her arm and smiled warmly at her. Silly girl, didn´t she know that family wasn´t always about blood relations, but people who cared about each other. " I know that. Larek already told me everything. But it doesn´t matter to me. You saved my life and I saved yours. That makes us sisters".
" Great, more siblings. Like I don´t have enough already", Maria tried to cover up her emotional state with a funny comment. She was touched that someone she barely had known was caring so deeply for her. She promised herself that she would make it up to her. From now on they would keep in touch and get to know each other better.
Corly laughed about the little joke. She had spent a few years watching over Maria and she learned a lot about her. She was a family person, the more around her the better. She seemed to complain much about no privacy, but she loved it to be surrounded by people she loved. " Do you have something planned today? We could talk and catch up. I still have to work two hours, but I would have time afterwards".
Maria would have loved to talk to Corly. But she already promised Lindsey she would spent the whole day with her. " I have to take a raincheck. My sister Lindsey has her first date tonight and I promised her that I would help her. But how about tomorrow evening? Around seven? I would even bring Michael with me".
" I understand. The first date is the most important one", Corly was slightly disappointed, but she expected something like that. " Okay tomorrow and I´ll bring my boyfriend, too".
Maria just wanted to ask who the boyfriend was and if he was good enough for her when she saw Larek hurrying back to them. " I think that is my cue to leave. Besides I have to prevent my sister from stealing my mothers car. So see you", she turned her head towards Larek and called" see ya", before walking out of the UFO-Center. When she finally arrived at the Jetta, her sister was busily talking about boys with Tess and Liz. They hadn´t even noticed that she was there until she jumped into the car and slammed the door shut. Immediately three pairs of eyes were glancing in her direction, before going back to their earlier conversation. A little annoyed Maria started the vehicle and pulled out on the street.
The mall
Tess and Liz were looking through the offer of clothes for young teenagers. They had purposely skipped the section with the mini dresses, although a few of them had been looking really great. But they weren´t here to buy something for themself. They had to find something for a girl that wanted to appear beautiful but still innocent enough that her parents would let her leave the house with her outfit. They already had found a few tops, skirts and pants. However they had been a reason for a small fight between the two sisters, because they couldn´t agree on something. Either Lindsey thought it would look too prissy or Maria said it would look too revealing. They were still searching for the perfect outfit and they were already here for two hours. Tess walked towards the changing rooms with her arms full of of clothes, which she threw over the door of the one she was sure Lindsey was in. Then she slumped on the comfortable seat besides Maria.
" How much longer are we supposed to be here?".
Maria shrugged clueless. She had given up looking on her watch a while ago. It seemed like they had to spent all afternoon in this building or they had to kill someone. " Hopefully not much longer or I´m gonna strangle my sister".
Tess observed Liz searching for something in the adult section. Interesting developement. Had she failed to mention a few things? She would ask her later. Right now she had to focus on her other friend. " It´s your fault, you know? A simple thumbs up would have saved you all this trouble".
" Like I don´t know that. But my mother doesn´t want something too revealing for my little sister. And strangly I´m on her side. She´s too young to get that kind of attention from men. Besides there are too many creeps out there who could take advantage of her", the worst part was that Maria probably knew most of those creeps personally. Since the appearance of Billy she saw weird people at every corner watching her. And she had the feeling that something would be going down soon. The last time she felt that, most of her second family passed on.
Tess couldn´t hold it back anymore. She knew that something was going on since the incident from last night. She didn´t care that she was pushing, but she wanted to know what was happening and if she should be careful. " What´s up? I know you told me it´s nothing. But I know something is wrong since the Billy issue".
Maria turned her head towards her friend. It was hard to keep things from Tess. She sensed a lie a mile away and she felt immediately if someone had problems or not. Odd considering Rath was the empath in the family. " I´m just more shaken up from the fight with Billy than I thought. Give me a few days and I act normal again".
" You know that you can tell me everything? Even if it should sound weird?", Tess read a little between the lines and detected a strange vibe when her roommate said the name of her ex. So it probably had something to do with Billy. He was the key to everything. Maybe she should ask Kyle a few question tonight.
Maria nodded happily that her friend didn´t push her. Then she turned to her sister, who was coming out of the changing room. Smiling brightly she twirled around like a model. The black cloth trouser was fitting at all the right places and it made Lindsey appear taller than she was. The white neckholder top however was showing a large part of her naked back and just covered the most important body parts like her breasts and her belly. " Yes to the pants. But a strong no to the top".
Lindsey already expected the reaction and rushed instantly back into the changing room and snatched a matching white cardigan out of it. Quickly she put it on and went outside again. " And now?".
" Now we can finally get something to eat", Maria jumped to her feets relieved. Finally she noticed that someone was missing from their group. " Tess. Have you seen Liz?".
Tess looked to the place she had seen the other girl a few moments ago. But now she was gone from there. At the place was now a young couple. " I just saw her searching through the dresses over there", she pointed at the spot. " But now she´s gone. Strange".
Maria instantly went to the changing room of her sister and knocked at the door. She knew that something would happen, she had felt it. But like the last time, she didn´t listen to it and now her best friend since childhood had disappeared. " Get a move on. We have to look for Liz".
" Relax. She´s probably in another shop", Lindsey pushed the door open with both arms loaded with clothes. She hung up a big pile on the rack and took the rest with her.
While she went to the cash desk and searched in her purse for her fathers credit card, Maria was scanning the crowd for the familiar brown haired head of Liz. She strained her sight to the maximum and even stood on her toes. But she couldn´t detect her friend through the many people walking around. Thankfully Lindsey had found the way back to them and they could finally go hunting for their missing groupmember. Maria grasped the hands of the other two girls, partly because she didn´t want to lose them in the crowd and partly because she wanted to be sure that her sister was safe.
" I see her! She´s standing at the entrance of Victoria´s secret", Tess pointed in the direction of the mentioned shop and pulled the others with her.
Liz blushed deeply when she saw her friends storming towards her. She hadn´t wanted them to see what she brought. It was kinda private and she didn´t feel comfortable with the knowledge that others could see what she was wearing underneath her clothes. " What is going on?".
Maria eyed her best friend, whose face had turned a nice shade of red and then the big bag in her hands. Great, she had been worried because Liz had decided to buy underwear! For a moment she was tempted to strangle the other girl for almost giving her a heart attack. " Why didn´t you wait for us? We would have went with you".
" I wanted to do it alone, because you would have just made a lot of comments which would have made me uncomfortable", Liz talked about experience about a shopping trip to Victorias secret two years ago with her best friend. She had been entertaining the whole store with her antics about her boyfriend.
Tess wondered how Liz even managed to buy something. It was one thing to be shy in front of a guy, but with friends? That was weird. She took Kyle with her lingerie shopping and she hadn´t been shy the whole time. It was something normal like buying a jacket or shoes. " Don´t be like that! What did you get? Something sexy for Maxie boy?".
Liz got even redder if it was possible, a sign that it was the exact assumption. " He´s coming tonight. We have a date and I think we´re finally ready".
" Oh my god! You want to deepen your relationship?", Maria was careful not to mention what her best friend would be doing, because she didn´t want to give her little sister any ideas. She was still too young to worry about that.
Liz put a finger in front of her mouth to shush her friends. She didn´t want the freaking mall to know what she had planned for her boyfriend. You couldn´t be too sure that not someone who knows you could just pass you and tell your parents what they heard. " Not so loud. And yes".
Tess and Maria exchanged amused glances with each other before they laid their arms around their still inexperienced friend and steered her in the direction of the nearest drugstore. You shouldn´t trust your boyfriend to take care of the protection. Be prepared was not just a motto for the boyscouts. Lindsey followed them with a big smile gracing her face.
Valenti Residence
Michael, Kyle and Jim were sitting on the couch in the living room and watched football. Three bowls of chips were standing on the table besides three small bottles of snapple. They had been having much fun fishing that morning. They talked about important things and Jim tried to get a little more out of his future son in law. Although the mood had been relaxed, Michael had been guarded about a few topics and expressed himself just vague. But Kyle told him that the poor boy had lost his parents when he was nine and his grandfather had been mostly absent in his youth. That cleared the veil a little and made him understand him more. He swore that he would make Michael feel more at home with them.
" What do you think the girls are talking about right now?", Kyle was sick of the silence. Besides he had just spent hours with just men, he needed a little loving from his sweety. But she said she was busy with applying make up to Lindseys face. Like his sister needed all this crap to look beautiful.
Michael shrugged instinctively. He was too busy with thinking about the new developement in their lifes to think about such a trivial things " They´re probably giving your sister good tips about handling a man".
Jim hoped it was like that upstairs. He was still sulking quietly about the fact that his youngest daughter was dating boys now. It was all the fault of his wife, she had been playing unfair with him. Threatening with sex withdrawal. When he told that this morning, Kyle handed Sean ten dollars. Until now he didn´t know why. " I wish they would scare her so much that she would wait with the dating until she´s fourty".
" Now Jim, that wasn´t nice. It´s just a date with movie theater and maybe an ice afterwards. How much can happen there?", Amy put three plates of hot dogs on the table. How long did her husband want to bitch about that? She was just going out with a young boy, here in Roswell, where most of the people knew Lindsey. They would probably get the gist of the date in detail from some citizen by morning.
Jim glared at his wife. Did she just ask that? Didn´t she listen when he told her about his work? How many girls reported a rape after a wild party? Or had been attacked from their dates? He saw too much already and he didn´t want someday to come to a crime scene and see one of his daughters lying on the street or in an alley, strangled, raped or slashed. " Aren´t you even slightly worried about the safety of your daughter? The boy could be a junkie, a dealer or even a hitman!".
Amy had to quell her urge to laugh. Her husband was on the brink to get loco or his job finally costed him his sanity. " The boy is fiveteen for heaven´s sake".
" And? The age doesn´t matter nowadays", Jim knew that he couldn´t win this fight. For all reason he would list, his wife would find a perfect comeback. They could play this game for eternity and they wouldn´t get far. But was it so bad that he cared about the health of his family?
Before Amy could cave into the compulsion to castrate her husband, the doorbell rang. Immediately they could hear loud voices from upstairs and Maria calling that they would be coming down in a few seconds, while Kyle walked to the door and opened it.
" We don´t buy anything and we´re not interested in the watchtower".
The boy in front of him stared at him with wide eyes. His left hand, which was occupied with nice flowers, shook like crazy. " My name is Lindsey and I´m here to pick up Nicholas".
Kyle eyed him from head to toe. From his ironed black jeans to his dark blue shirt and to the dark blonde hairs. Instantly he knew that they didn´t have to worry about anything with the dud here. Could he look more dorkier? He made the appearance like he couldn´t count to three. " Yeah, yeah. Get in, we´re all already waiting for you".
" Kyle", Amy slapped the shoulder of her son. How dare he trying to intimidate this poor boy. " Be nice".
But unfortunately for Lindseys date the other two men arose from the couch and joined the little get together at the door. Now all three males were standing in front of him like a solid wall and glowered.
Nicholas gulped nervously and tried to hide his fear from the threatening men. They made him feel like he was the lamb in a cage full of lions. He was sure that every minute one of them would leave his place in the line and attack him. Especially the muscly one with the crazy hair. He was making the impression like he wanted to read something in his expression. Suddenly relieved flooded his body when he saw Lindsey walking down the steps. Three older girls were following her with big smiles gracing their faces.
" I hope my family didn´t try to scare you",
Nicholas grinned at her while he handed her the flowers he picked on his way here. " Not at all", he saw in the corner of his eyes that the smaller man raised his eyebrow. But he only concentrated on the girl in front of him. Lindsey was looking pretty tonight. Her hair was put up with a few curly strands framing her face, which was held in light make up. Just enough to emphasize her natural beauty. " You look beautiful".
The girls in the background gushed over the sweet boy while the men snorted scornful. It was just a pick up line to let the girl feel safe before trying to get her into their beds. Hopefully this Nicholas guy would keep his hands to himself or he could say goodbye to them.
" You look not so bad yourself", Lindsey played nervously with the hem of her jacket. She had heard so much stories about dates gone wrong and how she could avoid an awkward silence, that she almost forgot to put her shoes on. She just wanted out of this house and enjoy her first date.
Maria was delighted for her sister and hoped that she would spent a fantastic evening with a nice guy. But something was bothering her with Lindseys companion. Something that was making her really uncomfortable. Something that let ring all her alarm bells loudly. Then he turned his face and looked directly at her. She knew those eyes, they were familiar to her somehow and she had glanced at them many times before. Suddenly it dawned on her where she knew those eyes. The moment her face cleared she noticed that he realized that he was identified. But before she could open her mouth to warn her sister everything around her started to get black.
TBC