Elena
"Well, that was a fun evening out," I commented as Alexa unlocked our door. I followed her inside, shutting the door behind me. I threw my purse on my dresser and went to my chair to sit and take off my shoes.
"Ya, it was fun. Too bad you didn't utilize the time Austin and I gave you in the backseat," Alexa teased as she took off her beret and placed in its proper place in her closet.
"What were we supposed to do? Start macking out in the backseat with you two right there watching us?" I retorted as I got up, grabbing my shoes and throwing them in my closet next to all my other shoes.
"Something like that," Alexa shot back, grinning "Something to have made our gambit worthwhile. But it looks like it was all for not." With a dramatic sigh, she shook her head at me. Turning around, she started changing into comfier clothes.
I started doing the same as I answered, "You and Austin need to cool it. Sure I really like Noel, and if, in the future, we wound up dating, I'm not going to complain. But we haven't known each other for that long. I don't really want to jump into the first relationship I see right when college starts. College is supposed to be a time of finding yourself, experimenting, and just having fun, right?"
"Is that what you're telling yourself to feel better when you go to sleep? You're telling me that if Noel would ask you to be his girlfriend tomorrow, you'd tell him no because you want to find yourself, experiment, and have fun?" she raised an eyebrow at me. Once she changed into something more comfortable, she went over to her desk and turned on her laptop.
"No, I'm not saying that. But I'm not going to get hung up on the what ifs and wait. I'm going to enjoy what Noel and I have, and if it leads to dating, well then that's great," I shrugged. I knew what I was saying sounded better in theory, but I didn't want Alexa think I was only hung up on boys.
"I suppose that's a good philosophy to have," she nodded in understanding before turning her full attention back to her computer. After a few moments, she started typing away about a mile a minute.
"What are typing up? You can't have homework yet, classes don't start until after tomorrow!" I said as I crawled into bed, grabbing my phone and plugging it into the wall charger next to my bed.
"I'm just blogging," she replied.
"Oh, you blog?" I asked impressed.
"Oh, yes. I like to document my thoughts, what I'm doing, things going on in the world. I want to be able to look back and reread what I was thinking when I'm older. It's fun to see how my thoughts and ideas have changed, not to mention the history. You should blog," she told me.
"Better in theory," I replied.
She's right. Writing down your thought and blogging is a fun way to keep track of all that you do in your life. One day, your memory will fade and you'll wish you'd have written more down, Eevie cut in. She had been oddly quiet since the car ride back. Usually she always had some sort of running commentary.
How do you know what a blog is? Or anything of the human world? If this is your first bonding, and because of your horns, you can't really go out and about, how do you know so much about the human world? I finally asked her a question that's been bugging me for awhile now.
"You going to bed?" Alexa asked, interrupting my question.
"I think so. It's been a rough day for me," I told her.
"I'll be right behind you, but I'll be quiet," she told me as she turned on her desk light before going to turn off the main light and then sitting back down at her computer, the sound of her typing lolled me to sleep.
Eevie
I supposed I had better answer some of Elena's questions. She'd ask the question again, and rather than putting it off, I decided to just get the questions out of the way now. I was trying to think of ways to keep her out of the situation I had found myself in.
When Alistair had found me to deliver his message, Elena and I hadn't really talked about the issue because she could sense I wasn't ready. And then with the dinner, it had been forgotten. But I couldn't forget about it. My best friend's sister was taken hostage by my family. If Alistair had returned with poorer news, I had no doubt they would have murdered her.
Elena sleeping was the best time for me to talk to her about everything. I could infiltrate her dreams and talk to her, and this way she would still be getting some rest. Concentrating on finding Elena's consciousness, I broke through the dream world and wound up in a house. Or a kitchen more specifically. The kitchen looked to be very old, floral wallpaper, nick knacks hung on the walls.
Sitting at a table was Elena as an elderly woman shuffled lovingly around the kitchen, setting food in front of Elena. When I entered the room and took a seat at the table, it altered the dream and made the old woman leave the room. I had taken control of the dream, and it was now just the two of us.
"Was that woman your grandmother?" I asked her.
She nodded, "Yes. I miss her."
I nodded, knowing full well how much she did. "I need to lay all my cards on the table so to speak. I told you at the bonding I would never lie to you and I would always protect you. And I meant it, but I want you to be aware of what that really entails now. Before I continue, I just want you to know, I had no idea things would get this out of hand."
"You mean what Alistair came to tell you?" she asked calmly as she shoveled the food in front of her into her mouth.
Nodding, I continued, "Yes. But before we can get to that point, I need to back up and explain why my family and I are so at odds. A long time ago, I had a human lover, Rhys. As you can probably guess, my family did not approve. I was a demon that they wanted to pawn off to a higher noble family for better social status. I wanted to live by my heart's desires. And so I turned my back on my family for five years. Ten blissful years. In those ten years, Rhys taught me everything he could about the human life. I think my family kept thinking I'd come to my senses. They never expected me to choose to stay with Rhys."
"They left you alone for ten years?" Elena asked skeptically.
"Mostly, yes. You must understand that ten years for a demon is nothing. But it is an entirely different story for a human. MY family thought it was a phase and that I'd eventually get over it, or my human would die first. But when it became clear, I wanted to stay, they had to intervene. They couldn't have me become pregnant and bare a half demon half human child. What that would do to the family name would have ruined us. It was also about that time when things between the noble families became tense and unstable. There were constant threats of noble families losing their positions. And my parents needed me back home and willing to marry into a stronger noble family to strengthen ties and let the other demons know we weren't to be trifled with. But when asked, I refused."
"I take it that refusal was not taken kindly."
"Correct. My family hired a mercenary to kill Rhys the day before we were to be married. The grief I felt trumped everything, and I had no choice but to go home. But rumors of my tryst and almost marriage with a human circled the village and our hold over the land greatly weakened. Demons stopped taking my family seriously. IF they couldn't control me, why should they be able to be where they are? SO I was confined to house arrest for decades. And slowly people began trusting my family again. Clearly they had gotten me under control, and my family had somehow gotten another noble family to agree to marry me to their son. But my family won't tell me which family as they are probably scared of what I would do."
"An arranged, blind marriage?" Elena asked, horrified.
"Yes. So I thought that by getting bonded to a human, I wouldn't be able to be married off anymore, but as you well know, I was mistaken. My father is ruthless. He'd kill anyone he could get his hands on to get me to do what he wants. He knows what's important to me, and he will use anything at his disposal to get me in check."
"Maybe the guy you are supposed to marry won't be so bad," she suggested hopefully.
"He could be the nicest, sweetest guy in the world. He could be everything I wanted in a partner, and I still wouldn't want to marry him. I can't give in to my family. If I do, where will it end? I would be their slave for the rest of my days. I would rather be destitute and forever alone than to have to do anything they want of me. But I have to go through with this otherwise Alistair and his family are in danger. And if I could somehow get them someplace safe so my family can't use them, they will go after your grandmother. They will find anyone to use as a weakness against me. AT this point, I can't see how I can win this."
"Your family is seriously messed up," Elena put her fork down on her empty plate. "And while I'm scared about the using my grandma against you, I hope you know I will do anything I can to help you."
I smiled at her. "Thank you for saying that; it means a lot."
"And this will, of course, stay between us," she smiled. And I was happy I was able to confide in her. She was a good friend. "I do have one question, though. How did you cover your horns the entire time you lived with Rhys?"
I laughed. "After everything I just said, that's what you want to know? Has. Berets mostly. And in the summer, I used bandannas. IT looked a little weird and bulky, but for the most part, no one said anything. When you live in New York City, people have seen a lot weirder things."
"You lived in New York? How romantic," Elena smiled at me.
I smiled and blinked back the tears that always threatened to fall whenever I talked of Rhys. I imagined if there was such a thing as god and heaven, Rhys would be watching over me. And that thought comforted me immensely. I slowly let up control of the dream and let Elena sleep peacefully.
