"Hello Bridget."
"Oh!" She cried, jumping slightly at the voice, "H-Hi Dren."
"Can you take this out please?" The Cyniclon asked her kindly as he held a plate of chocolate cake with strawberry mousse out to her. He wore an apron tightly around his body showing his sleekness, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows showing his strong forearms. "Bridget? Bridget are you alright?" Dren asked her giving her a funny look.
"Oh! Yes- right away! What table is it?" She asked with an embarrassed blush to her face, as she looked towards the floor.
"Table 7." And he gave her a smile, though privately he felt it was an empty one.
"Aww he's killing them already." Elliot chuckled as Bridget hurried back out to the cafe floor. He sat on the table reading the daily newspaper with a mug of coffee next to him.
"Killing them?" Dren asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It was a joke, humour. Nevermind." Elliot sighed, "The other Mew Mews haven't turned up yet, I'll call them up and see where they are." He jumped off the table to enter his study leaving Dren and Wesley to their baking. The Cyniclon was a hard worker and stirred, rolled and baked relentlessly, Wesley noticed.
"Here take this out to table four for me, just ask the girls what table it is. They'll know more than I do since Elliot reconfigured the layout." He told him pushing the trolley towards him that was laden with several plates of cake and jelly.
"Okay." Dren replied obediently. He took the trolley and wheeled it out past the saloon doors. Entering the cafe for the first time with customers present was rather offsetting and he looked around in mild confusion. In one corner was Corina sipping tea, while Bridget and Renee ran around to different tables recklessly. He made his way slowly towards the blue haired girl, "Hi there."
She looked up with dark sapphire blue eyes and choked on her tea violently. Hastily mopping the liquid from her chin with a napkin, she stood up quickly looking at him with a blush, "Hi there- Dren! What a surprise, what's up?" She asked him breathlessly.
"Where table four?" He asked her and she blanched a little at the question.
"Erm...that one." And she pointed at the table close to the door. He looked at it with focus and thanked her, moving carefully between tables and the bulky trolley. Unbeknown to him, all the high school and college girls had turned their heads pointedly towards him.
"What's he doing out here?" Renee hissed to Bridget as they watched Dren manoeuvre his way around the tables.
"I'm not sure...at least his little kitchen bandana is hiding his ears." Bridget replied seeing how the red checked bandana covered his ears well.
"I better go over ..." Renee sighed as she saw the girls stare at Dren possessively.
"So you didn't order...the pineapple cake slice, and you didn't order the tropical jelly? Or the Citrus gateau?" He looked at the three girls and received vacant stares accompanied by strong blushes.
"Ladies." Renee interrupted her cold eyes snapping their attention from him. "This isn't your order, but it'll be out soon." She told them sternly with a snarl on her face. And she pushed Dren and the trolley away from them. "Dren, what are you doing out here? You're going to be mauled to death by all of them!"
"Mauled? But, no , Renee I was meant to deliver these to table four and Corina told me-" He began to explain with a slightly vacant stare as all the commotion was distracting him.
"This isn't table four, this is table seventeen! Never trust Corina about anything to do with the cafe..." She groaned, "No worries, just- just-just-" She had met her eyes with his and was already leaning closer to him, "Just-" she was leaning closer and closer and closer...falling into the pools of amber coloured honey.
"Yes?" Dren asked her sharply, his pitch a notch higher than normal to snap her back from her trance.
"Get back to the kitchen Dren." And steadied herself with a hand on the trolley. He gave her a quizzical look and hurried back to Wesley, suddenly acutely aware of the female stares he gathered around him, already their buzz of inane chatter was scorching his sensitive hearing and they all seemed to be commenting on how hot something was, perhaps it was the desserts...
"Wesley, it's frothing like sherbet in water out there." He muttered with a heavy sigh, "My ears are burning with all the noise...and are our desserts too hot? All the customers seem to be muttering about something being hot."
"I suspect it's you that is "too hot"." Elliot said dryly with a stretch pushing past the saloon doors. "I asked Renee what happened on my way back and it seems we need a little chat after work Dren, try to avoid going out the kitchen for now."
"Okay," Dren replied with a puzzled expression. "Where is Zoey and Kikki?" He asked him and the human shot him an odd look.
"Kikki has just come in to work now, and I'm guessing Zoey took the day off without permission. Her phone is dead." Elliot told Wesley,
"It may have been blown to pieces in the lab that we still haven't cleared out." The baker suggested with a dry laugh. And Elliot nodded in silent agreement.
"Humans are strange." Dren told Wesley after Elliot had left again with his paper.
"Are we? You're pretty strange yourself." Wesley replied though not unkindly.
"The jokes and humour thing is all too new, and sometimes words you use pragmatically don't have a meaning..." He added while helping Wesley cut slices off a huge blueberry adorned cake. "And as for Zoey not attending work, her actions were not administered and should be punished as she acted out of ranking."
"Your race seems to be built upon categories and roles of life rather strictly...as humans sometimes we say stuff but don't mean it directly. Like this for example, "I think you're really hot." You'll hear this a lot, cafe Mew Mew seems to attract all the high schoolers."
"Doesn't that mean that you think I am radiating heat?" Dren asked him, and the human laughed,
"If only that were true. It actually means that you are attractive to them."
"Attractive?" He echoed and the man nodded in reply.
"Means that females are attracted to you, they like you and from the reactions out there, they're all dying to know who you are." Wesley told him, "Which is why I want to hold a welcome ceremony for you tomorrow. Hopefully Zoey will be here." He added while putting whipped cream on more cake. "I know for a fact she's probably taken the day off because she can't face you."
"Zoey is the red haired human yes?" Dren asked as he put more cake on plates for him.
"Indeed. It'll be nice having you around."
"Why can't she face me?"
"I'll let her explain to you." And with that sentence, Dren's first day in the cafe ended. He sank into a chair feeling rather tired, behind him Welsey cut up a large fruit tart ready for the Mew Mew team to eat. "It should be empty of customers now, Dren you can take this outside while I wash up."
"Okay." Dren said taking the trolley to wheel it out. Outside the Mew Mew team was sank over various tables and chair looking profusely exhausted.
"FOOD!" Kikki cried aloud jumping to her feet. He handed plates of the tart around and received many grateful thanks.
"There is only four of you, where is red haired Zoey? Is she still not here?" He asked them curiously.
"God knows, probably lying at home pretending to be ill." Corina said between bites of her fruit tart.
"Here you can have a piece." Wesley said giving him a generous cut of the fruit tart. "You worked well today, and it was pretty busy since we've been closed."
"Thank you." Dren replied quietly looking closely at the glazed fruit and tropical puree filling on top of a biscuit bottom.
"What's the matter?" Bridget asked him after he hadn't moved for a while.
"Err..." Dren croaked out and looked pointedly at Elliot.
"I...Why aren't you eating like you normally do?" The boy genuis looked up in surprise,
"He's right, he'll have forgotten how to use magic after...the accident. Just cut some off with your spoon Dren and put it in your mouth, chewing before you swallow. Like this." And he ate some of the fruit tart just to show blinked at him stupidly and he sighed. "Here." He raised a spoonful of cake to Dren's mouth and the alien took the hint and gently took the spoon into his mouth.
"That right." Elliot told him and returned to his own plate. Dren however mulled over it and found himself repeating the instructions if a bit awkwardly. It was like teaching a child the basics of life, Elliot noted.
"That wasn't so hard was it?" Kikki asked him with a grin and he shook his head.
"Guys let me in!" And a sharp rap was heard on the door.
"That must be Zoey." Bridge said going to the door.
"You remember her don't you?" Elliot asked him and he nodded in reply.
"Hi Elliot, sorry I couldn't come into work today I was too tired and slept the entire day away." She told him apologetically with a little bow and he waved it off.
"It doesn't matter, what matters is Dren. I wanted to talk to you all, I've noticed a change over all you girls today whenever you're sat near or next to him, now tell me why." His point was reinforced as there was a clear three metre radius around Dren devoid of females. Instantly he noticed they all blushed and clamped their mouths shut.
"Have I done something wrong?" The Cyniclon asked them all softly, he was staring acutely at Zoey after hearing what Wesley had said. But she avoided his eyes. "Do you not like me?" He asked her pointedly and everyone jumped into life.
"No!"
"Never!"
"Of course we do-"
"It's just- "
"You smell!" Kikki burst aloud and hid behind Zoey's legs instantly. The men and Dren looked at her in surprise. He sniffed himself carefully, his senses picking nothing up, "But I don't." He replied blandly, Elliot and Wesley sniffed around him also and reported the same.
"It must be pheromones then..." Elliot concluded with a grim look, "What does it smell like to you girls?"
"Like fresh fruit-" Kikki chirped aloud,
"No- it's more of woody undertone-" Renee butted in,
"A crystallized note of dewy water from a mountain stream!" Corina added,
"Soft oriental notes of the mysterio-" Bridget sighed softly. And Elliot groaned as the rush of voices were fired at him relentlessly.
"Girls, girls...hold it. I'm getting earache." He gave a groan of relief as silence ensured. And Dren allowed his ears to relax after the burst of noise. "Zoey what do you smell?" The cyniclon asked her curiously with a small impish grin seeing as she hadn't joined in the mass influx of voices.
"I...smell...a spicy, rich tang of something velvety." She murmured her eyes half closed and vaguely fixated on Dren.
"I...don't smell anything. This is illogical. Are you sure they are behaving normally?" Dren asked Wesley hastily as he got to his feet in alarm. And Zoey focused back on him. His body was so tense and alert that even his fangs were being bared to all.
"Calm down, we'll just find a way around this." Elliot told him sharply and the Cyniclon sat down rather rigidly. "Girls, I'll find some nose strips for you all tomorrow so that you can work together with him without being affected aversely."
"But for now, we all need to have dinner and you all need to get home." Wesley suggested seeing the tired faces return as Dren had pushed his chair away slightly.
"You're right, I can't bear my face being around his for so long...makes me feel like I need to be pampered and made pretty." Renee groaned her eyes lingering jealously on Dren's skin and sculpted face. The other girls gradually began to gather their coats and items but Zoey remained seated.
"Is there something wrong?" Elliot asked her as Wesley left for the kitchen again.
"Yeah, I wanted to talk about the experiment." She said rather shakily and Dren pricked his ears attentively.
"Not today Zoey." Elliot told her firmly and glared at her. "What you can do is talk to Dren for a while. It's rude to meet a guest and leave him alone for the whole day." He added before leaving for his study despite her protests.
"Urgh he's such an ass!" She growled and stamped her foot on the ground after he was gone, "Would it kill him to say a few more words?"
"Probably not, words don't tend to kill many people." Dren told her calmly he was still holding his slice of fruit cake.
"Well...how...are you?" She asked him tentatively feeling a hot flush of embarrassment rise on her face as it did whenever Mark was around. Dren instinctively noticed the colour change in her skin.
"I am fine thank you." He replied evenly and studied her, "Why have you gone red?" She gave a little gasp and clasped her hands to her face. "Perhaps you are hungry. Here have some fruit." He picked up a strawberry and held it up to him. The sheer innocence of his eyes was almost too much. This was a personality that was open to the world and oblivious of his darker nature. He stretched forwards a little bit more till the strawberry was touching her lips. He was almost mimicking what Elliot had shown him moments ago. She found herself taking the strawberry into her mouth, "There isn't it tasty?"
"I-I I have to go." She stood up hurriedly after swallowing the fruit hazardously. She bolted away despite him calling out for her to stop.
"What a strange creature." He muttered running a hand through his hair in frustration. She stopped to fumble at the door of the cafe and he focused on the point beyond the door determined to bar her way. "Her behaviour is erratic and needed to be fully explained before her leave." He thought with a little scowl. A surge of untapped power, an ethereal glow and he found himself blinking into the night sky with a slight weight on his chest.
"I-I'm so sorry!" Zoey yelped, the tip of her nose touching his. Dren was flat on his back as Zoey rammed hard into his chest knocking them both to the floor. "Y-you just came out of nowhere I-" she babbled scrambling backwards clumsily only to land on her bottom.
"I...must have used my magic." Dren replied breathlessly, drawing up one knee close to his chest and rested a strong arm on it. It was a pose, a rather sexy pose she thought to herself with a sharp intake of breath, "You pack quite a strong hit Zoey." He told her and she nodded, clamping her jaws shut. She noticed that his markings were white and paled away into nothing even as she watched.
His hair fell into a messy mop of hair that gave him a rough, bed head look and he noticed that she couldn't take her eyes off him. "Well, I apologise for ruining your night Zoey. But I must insist you communicate with me. Cookery books can only expand my vocabulary so far. Any form of social interaction would benefit me."
"Oh no! No! No! You didn't ruin my night – no not at all!" She stammered quickly giving him a broad sheepish grin. "And social interaction – ahahahaha- I'm not very good at that!"
"I can hear your heart." Dren commented wincing a little as his ears focused slightly on the rhythmic thumping within her chest. He stood up and offered her a hand, she took it gladly and he pulled her to her feet easily.
"Oh – I...have to go." Zoey muttered to him and dashed away into the night. Ordinarily he would have planted a tantalising kiss on her lips but now for the new Dren, anything of that was out of the question.
"Right, good bye red faced Zoey." He called out after her and dusted his shirt down. Walking back into the cafe he saw that Wesley and Elliot were laying out the table in preparation for a quick dinner.
"Welcome back." Elliot said as he approached, "I see you have a rather adverse reaction to Zoey."
"She's a strange creature, she turns red whenever I speak to her. Perhaps she has eaten too many tomatoes or cherries." Dren mused aloud and gave another stretch. "I also managed to tap into my magic...I transported to outside of the door." He grinned at Elliot who looked up with alarm.
"You did...that naturally?" He asked him cautiously as they sat down.
"I guess, but now I don't feel it anymore. It was like yeast in bread rising, so much that the dough expands in all directions but now it's gone." Dren explained to them slowly as he picked up his chopsticks to eat the food. "I feel oddly empty."
"You don't seem surprised that you know magic." Wesley commented chewing slowly on some fish.
"I'm not, I have magic in my blood, but it's dormant. It's there but not accessible." Dren said looking down at his skin. Already he could feel the magic flowing through him as a part of him, always there for manipulation but how he still didn't know.
"It'd be good of you to practice using magic. Developing skills is vital." Wesley said encouragingly but Elliot scowled.
"Maybe you shouldn't use magic so much Dren, it can scare people and do terrible things." The blonde said grimly.
"Only if you lose control of it." The Cyniclon said quietly and swallowed a small mouthful of rice, "Are you both willing to indulge in the leisure of describing what happened in that lab of yours?" He asked and Elliot put down his bowl, looking at him straight in the eyes.
"What happened was you lost your memory about your previous life. All because you volunteered for a few tests and one you had an adverse reaction to." Elliot explained calmly. Dren's sensitive ears could pick up each syllable and the ringing tones of Elliot's voice box, his thumping of his heart as information was withheld.
"A vague truth, but satisfactory." Dren replied solemnly, finishing off his bowl of food quickly. He excused himself and walked wearily up the stairs.
"I think he knows we're hiding something." Wesley whispered to Elliot, Dren swivelled his ears so that it focused on their conversation. He tensed his fist and tugged at the power inside him, his veins seared with light as they protruded from the exertion. It burned a white light through his skin, spreading from his hands to cover his torso and face with stretched, tribal like patterns.
"He knows, but there's not much I can tell him anyway. What we recorded was most likely blown to pieces. I'll have to sort the lab out tomorrow morning and see what can be salvaged." And he heard the chair scraped back as if one of them was getting to their feet.
"Indeed. At least his obsessive behaviour towards Zoey is slaked." Wesley muttered and another chair scraped the floor, accompanied with a little noise as plates were collected. Seeing as there wasn't much more to be hear, Dren continued on his way to this room. The markings on his skin now illuminated the corridor he prowled down, his amber eyes glinting in the reflected light.
"Unek." He breathed aloud, his hand above the handle to his door. He felt the magic tendrils tug at his fingers willing to be released but something was restricting him. After a few moments of frustration, he dropped his control over his natural gift, opting to push the door openly roughly instead.
Flopping down on his bed he stared up in the ceiling, wondering how off Earth he had managed to get himself in this situation. His thoughts returned to Zoey, and how the female seemed to know so much more about him than he did...he sat up straight and glanced out the window. It was a cool night, "Perfect." He hissed softly. That human with her secrets would not escape his grasp.
Zoey rolled around in her bed, the sheets entwining themselves against her body and limbs. She was barely conscious, her senses dulled with tiredness but she could feel the hairs on her skin stand straight as a breeze wafted over her. She could hear screaming, and it scratched at the corners of her mind. That alien, foreign voice howling with rage and pain, the scratching as his nails scraped on metal, his flesh burning with the pure magic within him, shining through his skin...
"You're awake." She snapped open her eyes and saw a hulking figure, his eyes a bright white, his skin scorched with thin brandings of magic.
"!" She screamed, her arms and legs flailing wildly. Dren pounced onto her hurriedly, clamping his mouth clumsily over hers, his legs straddling her body and his hands pinning her wrists down. Her heart rate was sky rocketing and he flattened his ears in a bid to deter the constant thumping.
"Be quiet." He muttered, his lips leaving hers. "I only want answers, just tell me what I want to hear." And he slowly backed away from her. He knelt on the bed as Zoey scrambled to the other side, bunching her duvet close around her.
"You-you kissed me..." She stared at him agape in horror.
"I intended to muffle your screaming with my hand but then you would have had a limb free to strike at me. Therefore strategically "kissed" as you call it seemed the only way you silence you without bodily harm." He replied thoroughly unaware of his effect on her. As far as he was concerned it was as harmless as holding hands.
"O-okay...you just scared me that's all." She panted aloud as she stared at his softly illuminated form and mopped her face with her pyjama sleeve. "How did you-" He pointed a slender finger to the window that was pushed ajar.
"I followed your scent here." And she drew breath to ask more questions but he hissed lowly and put a finger to his lips. "Your parents are awake." He whispered to her softly. And crawled over to beside her.
"You can't stay here!" Zoey exclaimed scrabbling away from him so that she stood on the floor, even then she could hear the floorboards creaking as people approached. "What will they think, if they-"
"Zoey? Honey are you alright?" A female voice called out, followed shortly by a sharp rap on the door.
"Zoey if there's someone in there, they shouldn't be!" Dren heard a deeper voice call out, and his ears picked up something wooden shifting around behind the flimsy wooden door. He bared his fangs as the object rapped on the door, it must be a weapon he thought instinctively.
"Dad! No don't come in! There's no one here!" She flung herself at the door as it cracked open a fraction, slamming it back closed tightly.
"But we heard voices..."
"No mom, that was just me – talking – to myself!" Zoey explained hurriedly her hair standing on end as more questions followed.
"Do you have a secret boyfriend in there?" Her dad asked shrewdly and Zoey grew a hot blush. "If you do – he's in serious trouble! I've already got my baseball bat out!"
"No-No, as if a boy was in here! That's ridiculous!" She laughed hollowly as Dren sat unmoving directly facing her.
"Should I help you Zoey?" He asked her and she gave a little yelp of anguish. "I could help restrain the intruders."
"Who was that?" Her parents asked simultaneously, and he watched a bead of sweat roll down her face slowly.
"It was – It was my phone- I'm on the phone to Mark!" She cried aloud and breathed a loud sigh of relief as a collective "Oh!" sound was heard.
"Well don't stay up too long deary, you've got college tomorrow!" Her mum chirruped,
"If it's Mark then it's alright, anyone else and they'd have been mince meat."
"I won't mum..." Zoey muttered in reply and her shoulders sagged with relief as their footsteps moved away. With her back to the door she slid to the floor in exhaustion.
"Lying appears to be a very good quality of yours." Dren told her softly and he watched her flinch a little. He was on all fours, peering at her with his head cocked to the side slightly, "Perhaps it has something to with your personality...a liar at heart?"
"That's very rude!" Zoey hissed angrily and turned her gaze away from his handsome face that was eerily lit up by his magic.
"It is?" Dren asked her innocently, his large eyes round in the dark.
"Yes it is." She replied sharply, "Can't you...not glow?" She asked him and pointed to his arm where a thin vein shone brilliant white light.
"I can stop myself "glowing" right now but you'd never be able to see in the dark like I. And if you switched a light on, your parents will know that you are awake." He told her and she mouthed a small "Oh" in understanding. "Yes...the magic is a part of me, by merely touching its surface in me the magic will shine through my skin. It's almost like the blood in..." But by now Zoey had tuned out, he was irresistibly gorgeous...so masculine and..."Zoey?" He asked, the roll of his tongue as he said her name was so gentle, she was so focused on his lips, they entranced her how soft they looked...
"What's the matter Zoey?" Dren muttered hurriedly as he fell backwards onto his bottom as she edged towards him. Her hand intertwined in his shirt tightly as she shuffled forwards on her knees.
"Err..."
"Err?"
"Err...I was just checking your shirt to see if it was buttoned correctly!" She laughed feebly whilst patting his chest and he raised an eyebrow.
"I can dress myself." He told her blandly, pushing her hands off his shirt.
"Okaaaay, right em...so erm what was it that you wanted?" She asked him quietly and gave her hair a rough shake, hiding her furious blush of shame that she was consciously aware of. It must have been his scent and that heavenly kiss from before that was affecting her.
"Your hair is fine." Dren told her flatly. And she looked at him with a puzzled expression,
"Seeing as I just woke up, it probably isn't, I can't see anything without light." She muttered and Dren ignored her comment knowing too well her weak human vision could tell that he was illuminating the room.
"What I really want to know is, who am I, how did I get here?" He asked her darkly. "You know the answers, I can see if from your eyes." There was like a low purr of a threat beneath his voice just enough for to make her skin prickle uneasily. "It'd be useless of me to ask Elliot and Wesley, they believe me too unstable to understand the truth."
"I...um...okay Dren, what happened was that you were experimented on..." Zoey mumbled and sat on the floor cross legged. She then proceeded to regurgitate everything she knew at him regarding the experiment. He stared at her passively, his lovely amber eyes blinking slowly as this information was passed on to him. "So um...yeah that's it." She mumbled and stifled a yawn.
"Thank you." Dren said blandly and got to his feet. He crossed her room and opened her window a little wider.
"Wait are you going?" She asked him cautiously. He looked at her face and was surprised to see a solemn expression.
"Pragmatically I understand that you wish me to stay." He replied quietly.
"ER- no! I mean it's too dangerous for you to stay, I would have liked to understand you a bit better but maybe we'll leave that for another day, so you get home." In a blink of an eye he was gone. Zoey staggered across to the window, feeling decidedly lonely, she put her hands on the window sill and watched the lone figure, with his ethereal light walk away coolly.
"She has given me much to think about." Dren muttered to himself as he retraced his steps to the Mew Mew cafe. He leapt back up to his window with agile strength and flexibility, his supple limbs making short work of climbing. He snuggled under his bed and shut his great amber eyes, "I shall need all the rest I can get if I am to piece my past together."Get to know you better" Just why is that human so intrigued by me?" He thought with an air of finality before drifting into a light sleep