by V L Friends
“Get it together, Anaya, he’s only a man,” I coached myself.
My neurotic self-talk was interrupted by a knock at the door and I drew in a hard breath and held it. If I stood here as quietly as possible maybe he would think I was not here and go away.
“Hello? Anaya, are you there? It’s Caleb. Can we talk?” There was the sound of that hypnotizing voice that instantly calmed me.
I couldn’t move and noticed I was still holding my breath.
The door handle turned slowly and I heard a click as the door began to open. I winced as I cursed myself for not locking it.
Hide! The voice in my mind screamed as I looked frantically for an escape. I crashed to the floor and slid under the bed. How predictable was I? How could I have not locked the door?! After last night’s visit, I was still shaken up and I did not want to see these two again. Their words confused me immensely. The talk about my mother and the way the fierce one said he was my father. Clearly, they were messing with me. I spent most of the morning curled on my bed hugging my knees, rocking away the anxiety as I kicked myself for even coming here. And now they were coming for me!
How would I explain this to Shane? I emailed him that I had something to do before I made the journey home, omitted the details and instead said I would contact him soon. I received no response.
I watched and listened as a pair of dress shoes entered the room and strode across the floor. I heard the movement of the chair as the person sat down and, with an irritated sigh, said, “She is under the bed.”
Caleb’s voice was the next to speak.
“Anaya, don’t be afraid; we are not here to harm you in any way. We just want to talk.”
He leaned down beside the bed and peered at me with a smile. I felt ridiculous.
“Hi,” Caleb said sweetly. “Listen, I know this is all a bit much to handle, but I promise to help you get through it. Let me just help you out from under there and we can sit right here on the bed and talk this out, okay?” Caleb’s voice was soothing as he reached for my hand.
I didn’t know who terrified me the most, Julian or Caleb. Caleb’s sparkling cobalt eyes and bright smile put me at ease. He had a way of inviting me in with ease and this scared me. Was that part of a deception to lower a person’s defenses?
My mind was thinking, “no way,” but for some reason my body was complying as I inched my way out with Caleb’s help and sat nervously on the bed as both pairs of eyes watched me curiously.
Julian studied me for a minute before he addressed Caleb.
“Caleb, just look at her. She is in no condition to listen to anything. She is going into shock. I say we knock her out and drag her back to the house until she comes around. It is too dangerous to hold this conversation here with so many people around,” Julian said with a look of impatience.
I gave him a glare and his eyebrow arched.
“Damn it, Julian! Shut up! She is family and that is not the way we treat family.” Caleb was losing his patience with the tall, mean one. Caleb put his arm around my shoulders.
“Listen, I don’t know who you really are or if I am related at all, but I can just be on my way and not bother you two again. I just want to forget about everything I heard. None of it makes any sense anyway,” I managed to say as Caleb calmly fished a Kleenex from the box on the nightstand and handed it to me. I accepted with a look of thanks and began wiping at my eyes and nose.
“Anaya, do you know what walkers are?” asked Caleb, ignoring my plea.
“I’ve heard stories but I guess I just thought they were tales,” I said, trying to focus on what Caleb was saying.
“They are beings, once human, that now walk the earth and never die. Well, there are some walkers that can kill another walker, but mostly not. Anyway, we each possess some kind of supernatural giftings and we all are much stronger, faster, and more agile than humans. We remain looking the same age as when we were first turned. Julian and I are walkers. Understand?”
I looked from one to the other in disbelief. If this was really true, everything in my world was about to get very complicated.
“You’re both delusional.” I managed to sputter the words through my laughter. My outburst caused both their jaws to tense.
“Shall I demonstrate for you?” Julian stood up and, before I could blink, in a blur he was standing next to me, then in one quick movement they were both standing next to the door. I never even saw them move! My legs buckled. I thought I would faint but Caleb was by my side in an instant to steady me.
“Brother, can we go now?” Julian began packing up my things.
“What are you doing? I am not going anywhere with you,” I said defensively. “I need time to process this. I barely know you two,” I continued as I pulled my clothes out of Julian’s grip in protest.
“You are family and can process at our family home,” Julian continued, stuffing things in a suitcase.
“No, no. Caleb?” I looked at him with a pleading expression.
“I am afraid it is for the best, Anaya. There are things you don’t yet understand. This town is crawling with dangers and being an Alexander makes you a target. It is for your safety that you stay with us.”
“Why do I feel like I am being taken prisoner?” I continued protesting, even as we were descending the stairs together.
“I need to use the ladies room,” I said as we passed by the restaurant’s public restroom sign.
“Hurry it up!” Julian sneered as he took my bags and left the building to put them in the car. Caleb stood waiting near the door.
Entering the ladies room in the restaurant, I nearly squealed with joy as I saw there was a window opening to the back alley. I nearly ripped my white T-shirt as I crawled through the window to the alley behind the restaurant, and I felt something tear at my skin, but the adrenaline was pumping so I felt no pain.
I managed to make it two blocks away before I heard Caleb’s voice and stopped to turn my attention to the sound of it.
“She made a break for it!” Caleb’s annoyed voice echoed in my ears. My extra sensory hearing took over.
“Merde!” Julian cursed, or so I thought; it was something in French. “Now do you see why knocking her out was the better plan?”
I really don’t like that man.
“There will be none of that, Julian. Do you understand? We want her to trust us,” said Caleb.
I struggled to clutter my mind with nonsense and misdirection, in an effort to confuse Caleb, as I knew he was trying to read my mind. Frantically scanning the area for a place to hide until I could figure out what to do, my eyes rested on a large dumpster. Someplace they would never suspect I would go.
After waiting in the dumpster for about 45 minutes while practicing blanking out my mind, I finally got up the courage to crawl out. There was some sort of parade that turned into a street fair operating in the center of town so I tried to blend in with the crowd. It seemed easy. Everyone just ignored me. Somehow, I had the sneaking suspicion that if I tried to plead for anyone to help me hide, it would fall on deaf ears. If these brothers were walkers, they would just compel everyone. I wasn’t sure how I knew this but I just knew.
Just as I was creeping my way around another corner, Julian appeared right in front of me. I choked out a scream which sounded more like a whimper.
“Sweetheart! Are you having fun?” he hissed. “We’ve been worried sick!” He glanced around the crowd of people. It was clear his tone of voice was all an act to detour suspicion from onlookers.
I could tell he was masking his anger. His grip on my arm was like steel.
“Let go of me. I am not going with you!” I said, gritting my teeth and pulling back, but it was no use.
“Is there a problem here?” said a woman dressed in a police uniform.
“No, no problem, Officer Bates. Just a family squabble,” Julian said, never letting go of my arm.
“I see. Julian, who might this be?” The officer nodded at me.
“Stell
a, allow me to introduce you to our cousin, Anaya,” Julian said, acting all casual.
“Are you okay, Miss?” Officer Stella asked me as her eyes lowered to Julian’s death grip on my arm.
“What did you do to her to make her cry, Julian?” she asked after studying me for a moment.
“Cry?” Julian faked his concern and bewilderment as he looked closer at my face.
“Her eyes are all puffy and red,” Officer Stella pointed out.
“Ha! You’re hilarious, Stella. She is fine. Now if you will excuse us, we have to be getting my little cousin home,” Julian said dismissively.
“Wait a second; she never answered me. Are you okay to go with him?” The officer was looking at me closely again.
I hesitated and just then Caleb came up behind me and pressed his warm hand on the small of my back, giving me a strange sense of comfort.
“It will be okay, Anaya, I promise,” Caleb whispered calmly in my ear before turning to Officer Bates. “She and Julian were just having an argument. She lost her mother, you see, and Julian was being his usual sensitive self and caused some upset.”
Julian released his hand and shrugged and gave a quick smile that never reached his eyes.
Feeling myself give in, I nodded to answer Officer Bates’ question.
“Well, fine then, Julian, watch yourself and take better care of this young lady.” The officer stepped away, leaving us in the street.
My eyes started tearing up after I realized I had surrendered. Julian noticed and quickly stepped to grab me again. He lifted me over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
“Let’s go before you hurt yourself,” Julian’s whisper in my ear was gruff. “Whew!. Caleb, someone needs a shower,” he said with amusement as he waved a hand.
“Julian, is that really necessary? She can walk!” Caleb said, following us to the car.
“I am done with this game, brother. Not taking any chances; she will bolt again.” Julian didn’t put me down until we got to the car and, even then he would not let go of me.
“Let go!” I attempted to wrestle away from Julian but he kept his steel grip, giving me the impression that he was not fooling around as his words seemed to display.
Caleb was silent all the way home.
Julian chattered on about how good it was to have me as a part of the family and how Caleb and I should get along so well because we were so much alike. I did not hear much because my thoughts were on what I had heard of walkers and how dangerous they were. What was to become of me now? What were these two going to do with me?
On our way home, the winds changed, dark clouds rolled in, and it started to pour down buckets of rain. Julian disappeared from the car as soon as we got home. I was frozen in place and did not want to leave the car. How could my mother and Shane have kept this from me? They had to have known I would find out. I was falling apart and the worst part was that it was happening in front of these dangerous creatures. Tears were streaming down my face. Apparently, Caleb was the one more equipped to handle emotional girls, as Julian so graciously put it when he slipped out of the car. Caleb was the more sensitive one of the two so he was left to deal with the overly emotional, basket case human girl.
Still not moving, I felt my car door open and an arm reached in and put a blanket around my shoulders. Caleb pulled me to him while whispering softly in my ear.
“It’s storming, and it’s not good for you to stay out here.” I didn’t resist, so he scooped me up in his arms. While he was taking me upstairs, he continued whispering. “We had a room made up for you; I think you’ll like it. I promise you will be okay.” Laying me gently on the bed and pulling the covers over me, Caleb knelt beside me and stroked my cheek with his fingers before landing a kiss on my forehead.
“We are not so bad. You’ll see.” Then he was gone.
It was dark outside because of the storm and I was tired but not able to sleep, so I lay awake too scared to move. I must have been hiding and running from the Alexander brothers much longer than I thought. It was disturbing that in my current mental state, my sense of time was all screwed up. Maybe Caleb was hoping that I would take his suggestion and just sleep. A part of me wanted to sleep just because he suggested it. He did seem to radiate an unusual sense of calmness. I now wondered if he had a gifting to project calmness on people with his touch. Maybe I would close my eyes for just a minute…
I awoke and squinted my eyes to see if I could make out my surroundings. I wasn’t sure about what time it was or how long I had drifted off. The room was dark but the light of the moon made it easy to see. Finally, I slowly got out of bed and walked over to the door and turned the knob but it was locked from the outside, and when I went to the window it was locked as well. My room was on the second floor and the large windows that extended from floor to ceiling actually opened onto a terrace. That is, if they were not locked too. Was I a prisoner here after all?
Walking over to the night table to turn on a lamp, I heard a sudden shuffling sound behind me, and when I turned the window was open. Standing in front of it was Julian.
My heart went into my throat.
“How did you get in here?!” I demanded with a shaky voice.
“Let’s not pretend you don’t know what I am capable of. I know you know,” said Julian. “You must know at least a little of what we are capable of doing, right?” He sounded a little impatient.
It was true. I was remembering. I did know about walkers. I had heard they could scale buildings and some could even fly and had super strength and speed. I also heard they were ruthless, merciless killers. I had never actually encountered one myself… well, before now, that is.
“Why?” I asked, still sounding terrified, “What are you going to do to me?”
“What?” He had that look again like he was studying me. He cocked his head to one side and suddenly I was more aware than ever of the inhuman nature of this creature before me. Julian had this confidence that both annoyed me and left me with a feeling of fear, yet fascination as well. I could not take my eyes off him. I don’t think I had knowingly ever seen a supernatural being before. I looked at him, studying every feature and movement as if he were a zoo animal. He had a slender build and had to be at least six feet tall, or maybe it was his commanding presence and muscular arms and broad shoulders that made him seem so big. He stood there in his white button-down shirt that was only buttoned halfway, so as to expose his chest. Walkers often had a seductive vibe to them. He had on black slacks and fancy leather shoes that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. His chiseled features and sparkling blue eyes were what I remembered the most about him, and also the way he always seemed to look at me with that smirk. It was the exact way he was looking at me now as he noticed me gawking at him. I couldn’t help it. He was beautiful. I had to remind myself that he may be pretty, but he was a killer all the same and his looks were meant to deceive.
Not to mention that he was supposedly my father, but I was still in denial about that. I could only handle dealing with one creepy thing at a time.
“Why are you here?” I asked as I tried to anticipate his answer and looked around the room at anything I could use to defend myself if I needed. “Are you going to kill me?” It sounded absurd hearing it come from my mouth.
He suddenly turned away, but I caught his widening grin that he was trying to hide.
Asshat! Was he enjoying this?
“Hmm. Could be. Just curious, though, what would you do if I was?” His back was still to me.
He was playing with me.
What could I do? From what I had heard about walkers, when they decide to kill, there is no stopping them.
“I might as well just surrender to my fate,” I said, trying to stall for time and throw him off. There was one thing for sure: I would never go down without a fight.
He began to chuckle. “Honestly, what kind of a father do you think I am, if you think I am going to kill my own daughter?”
This could be a tr
ick to make me let down my guard. He was complicated and dangerous.
“Look, Julian, whatever or whoever you and your brother are is none of my business. I won’t tell anyone, I swear. Please, just let me go. I will disappear and not come back.”
He was now laughing hysterically. Apparently, my fear was funny to him.
He held out his hand for me to stop talking. He was walking towards me.
“Just settle down. You’ll give yourself a nosebleed with all the begging,” he said, still coming towards me.