Twenty minutes later my cell phone rings with a familiar tone. "Dee, where are you? You've been gone for a while now."
"I know, I'm fine Daemon. I stopped at a little shop that sells clothes and stuff. I'm on my way to Foodland now. Is there anything you want? I thought I'd check again since I've been gone for a while."
"No, just get home…"
"Oh wait. Daemon, do you know our neighbor's name? I just saw her get out of her car in the parking lot."
"Dee, don't. You know you can't be friends with her."
"Shut-up Daemon. I'm not going to be mean to her. I just want to say hi. Do you know her name?"
I take in a deep breath. "Whatever. Her name's Katy. She was just here a little while ago to ask for directions."
"Daemon, please tell me you weren't mean."
When I'm silent Dee takes in a deep breath, "Daemon, someday you are going to meet your match when it comes to your attitude. I just hope I'm there when it happens so I can laugh at you."
"Just come home soon," I tell her. There's no way I'm admitting to the fact that I've met my match, and she's human.
I hang up the phone and go to sit back and try to get back into watching the 'Ghost Investigators' marathon. But no matter how hard I try, I can't get the girl out of my mind.
:::
When Dee arrives home she seems happier than she has in a long time. The fact of the matter is, Dee is lonely. She only has Ash, Andrew, and Adam other than me, and she isn't close to any of them, not really. According to the elders, she's supposed to commit herself to Adam after we graduate. Get knocked up and pump out babies to help repopulate our people, kind of like I'm supposed to do with Ash. And just like me, Dee feels no real attraction Adam. Maybe someday she will, but that day isn't today. I don't see myself ever feeling any real attraction to Ash either. She doesn't challenge me at all, she's too easily willing to do what I want, when I want. She doesn't argue with me or make me work for anything. She doesn't love me, not the way a couple who are supposed to be together forever are supposed to love each other and that's okay. But she's perfectly willing to lie down and have my children without complaint, and that's the problem. I want a girl who challenges me and makes me work for her love and makes me want to be with her, not because we are supposed to, but because we can't live without the other.
In a flurry of pink, Dee busies herself with the groceries while I start to eat what I pull out of the bags. Two fudge pops, peanut butter, and a half a bag of chips are gone before the groceries are even put in the proper place. When Dee notices she sends me a death glare that makes me smirk.
"What? I was hungry," I defend.
"Damn-it Daemon. I bought the fudge pops and chips for me, not you. You said you didn't want anything."
"Well, I changed my mind," I give her a shit-eating grin, the kind that pisses her off every time.
"You are such an ass, you know that," she grumbles.
I snicker again, and turn from the kitchen. Dee runs up the stairs and about ten minutes later she comes down in different clothes and heads to the door.
"And where do you think you are going?" I ask as she places her hand on the door.
She turns and looks at me, nervous. "Where are you going?" I ask again.
"I… I'm going to help Katy with her garden. I met her at the grocery store and she invited me to come over and help her. She's really nice Daemon, I can't believe you were so mean to her."
"She told you I was mean to her?" I ask annoyed. Maybe she isn't as independent and different as I thought, especially if she goes running to my sister.
"Not in so many words, but I could tell. She actually didn't say anything negative about you at all. But I knew you said something that made her mad."
I smirk again. Maybe Kitten isn't like any other human. "So what? You're going to go garden with her? And what happens when she wants to be your friend Dee? You know it's not safe for her or us if you befriend her. You could endanger all of us."
"Why? Just because I want to be her friend? It doesn't have to be like that Daemon. And if you got to know her, you could probably be her friend too. Don't tell me that you are happy with the way things are because I know you aren't, I know you hate being stuck to Ash, Adam, and Andrew just as much as I do. Andrew is an ass, Adam is just Adam, and Ash things she's god's gift. You don't even like girls that act like she does."
"It doesn't matter Dee, if you become her friend, you'll have the elders and the DOD breathing down our necks again. Is that what you want? Damn-it, we lost Dawson because of a human, I won't lose you too. She is different from us. You don't need a friend like her."
Tears starting to pool in her eyes, the green flashing and becoming more translucent. The pupil turning white and showing the power building in her. She's not going to back down from this. I guess I'm going to have to make Kitten back down first.
"Fine, but know right now that I don't approve of this. It's dangerous for everyone and it's not fair to bring her into something that she knows nothing about."
"And why can't we be honest with her. I think she can handle it, I really do. I just get this feeling from her that she's nothing like most humans. She's different, Daemon. Are you seriously telling me you didn't feel it too?"
I take in a deep, unnecessary breath. Of course I felt it. I knew it almost immediately, but I won't tell Dee that. I won't tell her that I'm secretly transfixed by this girl.
Dee doesn't say another word. She walks to the door and before she steps out I call out to her.
"You know you are dressed completely inappropriately for gardening?"
She huffs as whatever and slams the door, leaving me standing in the doorway of the living room. I'm actually impressed that Dee stood up to me, she usually is so passive that she doesn't argue when I tell her she can't or shouldn't do something. This girl, this human girl brought out the warrior in my sister. What is it about this human that makes Dee become the Luxen she needs to be and makes me want to ignore our people's rules about humans to get to know her? These thought bring be back to Dawson and Beth again. He was so willing to fight for her after only knowing her for a short time. He stood up to me for the first time because of her. I just didn't see what he saw, but now in Katy, I think I may see what Dawson saw in Beth, and that scare the shit out of me.
I move up to my room so I can watch over what Dee and Katy are doing outside. The two of them sit on her porch talking about things I can only imagine. Dee on the porch swing while Katy lifts herself onto the railing. I watch them for a few moments before I decide to do a little research about this girl Katy. Every teenager is plastered all over the internet, their lives an open book for the world. There has got to be something that I can find out about her.
I pull my laptop off of my desk and settle down on my bed for some cyber stalking. I type in her name in the search engine and immediately a facebook page, an Instagram, a twitter, and blog pops up all attached to her name. The first thing I open is her facebook, I scroll through the information that she shares with the public, including pictures of her on the beach with friends. I go through the other social networking sights looking at pictures and posts about her life in Florida, where she lived before here. Then I come across the obituary that she has in her images, that names her as the daughter of the deceased. She lost her father three years ago. Next I go to her blog, 'Katy's Krazy Obsession'. This girls is totally obsessed with reading and books.
I stalk her blog a little more, trying to get a feel for the girl. It's cute how excited she seems to get about books. She has a real passion for reading, one I've never seen before. Her life in Florida seemed for focus on hanging on the beach and living in bathing suits, which shouldn't surprise me I guess. She seemed perfectly at home like that and it made me appreciate her body even more, seeing her in a red bikini in one of the pictures.
I close my laptop, realizing I can't get a true understanding for the girl through cyberspace and decide to lie down for a while. Shortly after I lie down I hear Dee burst through the door and stomp up the stairs. She knocks on my door then shoves it open.
"What happened to gardening?" I ask with a hint of sarcasm in my tone.
"Shut-up alright, it started to rain."
"And was that your doing?"
"No… Well, maybe. She started talking about parents and I got a little nervous. I don't like Lying to her, Daemon. How can we be friends if I constantly have to lie-"
"That is exactly my point Dee. That is what I've been trying to get through to you. You can never be honest with her. You will have to hide who you are, so you can never really be her friend, can you."
"I'm not giving up, Daemon. We are going to the garden center tomorrow to get plants for her garden, and I'm going to learn to garden with her."
I shake my head. I know this is going to end up badly. I can just feel it.