A Soul Collectors Love

He was on her team

Ajax felt like he was ready to jump out the window of the car after he heard the same country song playing for the tenth time in a row. What the hell had he done to deserve this? He looked over at Amanda to see her grinning a malicious grin as she went to put the song on for the eleventh time, “How about a different song on the CD? Maybe the next song?” He whined as she carried on with her fiddling. When it began playing again, she gave a triumphant smile and looked over at him, he was shocked by how beautiful that smile was. “I’ll let you play the same song on repeat when one of my ex-girlfriends tries to burn your house down. Deal?” So that’s what this was about. He shook his head and carried on driving. Staring at the road ahead trying to shake off the warm feeling he had when he glimpsed that smile. Instead his thoughts returned to the reason she was angry, he had slept with two sisters, he was hardly the only guilty party and he had no idea why they were at her home in the first place. Were they there for him? Probably, he sighed as the chorus played once again. This was not his fault and Amanda was not his girlfriend so she could not torture him. Feeling resolved, he turned the radio off and felt immediate relief. He felt more than saw her burning glare, “I’m sorry about your house okay!” She ignored him and carried on staring out her passenger window. “Are we almost there?” The silence was almost as defeaning as the country song and he suddenly wished he hadn’t turned off the radio. “At the next stop take a left and follow the dirt road. We’ll hit the house at 5kms from the main road.” She stated simply leaving the disdain from her tone that time. That is a bit strange. They are normal people with a remote house, in the middle of nowhere. He felt like he should proceed with caution. Amanda’s voice had also sounded distracted, he looked over at her in the passenger seat to see that her light blue eyes were staring out into the dark and her mind seemed a million miles away from their current position.

Amanda continued to stare out the passenger window, watching the dark outlines of the landscape fly by. She knew every hill and valley. She supposed that she would remember the position of every tree. She had always loved her home in the countryside. She felt the car begin to turn and watched as the familiar dirt road appeared ahead. She had countless memories running along this road with her sister. “I bet this place was the best place to grow up.” She looked over at Ajax, wondering what could have provoked the statement. She hadn’t realized she was smiling and thinking back to their first lengthy conversation, where he had introduced himself as supernatural, she remembered the look of his father. Ajax had probably never had a fun childhood. She wasn’t sure if sharing her memories would be insensitive or not but she decided that he wouldn’t of said that statement if he didn’t want to begin a conversation. She pointed to a fallen tree that had been overgrown with foliage; they were travelling slowly enough on the dirt path for him to chance a look. “My sister and I would hunt for trolls under that tree. It looked like an enchanted bridge to us. Of course, I was always the dragon and she was always a fairy, princess warrior.” Amanda giggled when she began describing their roles. Ajax looked over and gave a chuckle himself, sharing in her memories. She got butterflies at the sound and had to avert her eyes when she felt like she had been staring too long. She looked at the road ahead, looking for anything else to catch her attention when the wrought iron gates, covered in thin wisps of ivy came into view. She was filled with a sense of excitement and dread. What if her parents didn’t know what she was talking about and really sent her to the looney bin? But they must know. What if they had been lying to her this whole time? She dreaded the answers but she needed them. She had been different her whole life and made to believe she was crazy because of it. She looked over at Ajax, “Roll down your window.” She leaned over him, feeling his scorching body heat through her thin shirt. She had to lay her hand on his thigh in order to lean towards the intercom. This felt way too good and scandalous to be innocent. Who was she kidding? Nothing with Ajax was ever innocent.  He had pressed the buzzer because she couldn’t reach and now they had to wait in this awkward position for her parents to get out of bed in the middle of the night, in order to answer the bell. She felt his hot breath ruffle strands of her hair and she felt turned on? What the hell. It was one time. Nothing more. She hatefully reminded herself.  She looked at the intricate work of the gate and how artistic it was. Little did intruders know that the beautiful gate was pulsing with electricity and the ivy was filled with poison. When her sister and her were little girls they were told of the dangers but of course she had to see for herself. She had touched the gate and everything went dark. She had woken in hospital with her mother staring at her with tears in her blue eyes and her little sister clinging to her father sobbing loudly into his abdomen. Her father had a look of disappointment and anger. She cowed at that sight. “Who is it?” Amanda’s father’s voice shouted through the speaker, sounding pissed and sleepy. They had woken her parents but she didn’t feel guilty, if they had been hiding things from her then they would have to live with late night visits. “It’s me, dad” Amanda replied through the intercom. “Amanda? What are you doing here? I mean come in!” He shot the questions and ending on a statement before Amanda replied and she was glad because she didn’t want to have to repeat herself when her mother would ask. She settled back into her seat and Ajax pulled into the long driveway, stopping in front of the garage. Amanda got out and walked up to the pure white house. She stood in the entryway waiting for Ajax to join her before she opened the door. As he stepped up, the door opened blinding them with a warm orange light. She saw her mother holding the door, her blue nightgown on and her grey hair cut short for low maintenance. Amanda smiled and hugged her mother, “Hi, mom.” To soon the hug was over and she began introductions, “Mom, this is...” before she could finish the introduction her father entered the room and shouted demon. He seemed to grab a gun out of no where and held it towards Ajax’s chest. Her mother hissed, I mean she actually hissed and grabbed a crossbow from heaven knows where. Before they could do any damage she jumped in front of Ajax and held up her arms. “Everyone, calm down, please. If anyone should be distrustful, it should be me.” Amanda made sure her parents put down their weapons and faced Ajax, he had that signature smirk on his face but it didn’t reach his eyes and suddenly she understood. The reason he smirks often, is to hide his real feelings. He dons a mask. She felt admiration at that because it must be an amazing strategy in battle. “Amanda! You brought a demon into my house?” Her mother asked accusingly. Ajax being Ajax couldn’t help himself, “I am only half demon but I can guarantee that I am not lacking in any department,” he finished off with a wink. Amanda rolled her eyes and narrowed her eyes at both her parents, “What am I?” it was a simple question and spoken softly but all the noise seemed to be vacuumed from the room and her parent’s faces were akin to ghosts. “Come into the living room and we’ll talk. Your friend can wait outside.” Amanda immediately shook her head, “He comes with because he is the only one that has been telling me the truth from the beginning.”  Now his smirk seemed all satisfaction and cat that ate the canary. Amanda rolled her eyes again. If she wasn’t careful, she would probably be looking at the inside of her skull ninety percent of the time she spent with him. They all filed into the massive living room decorated with black leather couches, in rustic colours, surrounding the roaring fire place. She sat on a two seater opposite a similar one expecting her parents to take the hint. Her mother sat but her father paced by the fire place. Something he did when something wasn’t going his way. “So?” Amanda prompted when no one spoke after they had been sitting for about a minute in silence. “What do you think you are, honey?” her mother began. “No, no beating around the bush. What am I?” Amanda iterated the last three words with more force. Her father stopped pacing and faced her. “You’re half angel, half human.” Well, that made sense. She could glimpse images of heaven and hell. “I’m a Halfling. So, that’s why I’ve been having those dreams.” She thought about it a moment longer, why did her parents send her to therapy then. Why didn’t they tell her? Why did they lie? Her mother seemed to be picking up on the growing anger and hurt in her daughter and spoke up. “That isn’t normal for a Halfling, honey. Halflings get individual gifts from God. We are blessed with our own unique ways of fighting demon.” She said the word demon with enough venom to make Amanda flinch. Ajax did not seem worried and held his relaxed pose on the seat next to Amanda, taking in every bit of information. As it felt like they were getting somewhere, Amanda heard the front door close and all eyes moved to the entrance to the living room. “Dad, you will never guess how many ghouls I just sliced and diced.” Amanda’s sister, Tarryn, walked into the room looking super pleased with herself and Amanda just felt like her heart dropped. Her baby sister had known all along. Her parents had lied to her. A thousand different emotion swamped her in that moment fury, hurt, sadness and a niggling feeling that was right at the back and spoke in the softest current but was always felt the most, she was never going to be good enough. She would always be a disappointment, no matter what she did. Amanda stood letting fury take over her expression and walked out to the back patio, not realizing that everyone was following her. She screamed then, she screamed at the top of her lungs, letting all the emotions purge from her until she felt tears streaking her face. She whirled on the people she thought were her family, “Why?” was all she had to ask but they knew. Her mother was full on crying and her sister and father had the audacity to look shameful. Her mother was the one that answered, “Halflings that received their gifts at a young age can be driven insane. We were frightened that you were headed down that route. We just wanted to protect you. We didn’t want to lose you. We had a witch lock away your memories and other abilities.” Amanda felt liked she needed to leave but she couldn’t without knowing everything. “Is that all you’ve lied about? Even though I’m special, I’m still too weird for your normal?” Amanda asked without a hint of remorse as her father looked at his brown slippers to match his brown gown. “That’s it.” He muttered. Amanda looked to Ajax who somehow managed to make his way to stand next to her and it strangely felt like, even though she felt more alone than ever, he was on her team. She looked up into his dark blues and muttered, “Let’s go”. He nodded without saying a word and grabbed onto her elbow to lead her to the car as if sensing she needed the support. Before she got in, she looked back at her family as her mother seemed to be moaning at her father and her sister was trying to calm her mother down. “Who is the witch? I want her name and address.” Amanda asked no one in particular but her father rattled off an address and Ajax looked at her. “I know where that is. Let’s go.” Amanda hopped in, looking in the mirror as her fragile family bond fell apart and she knew this had been coming for a while. Somehow she seemed to know that they had been keeping something from her.