Uprising

Chapter 2

"Hello to you too." The all-too-familiar voice of the one person who had helped me figure out my life rang in my ears. "I got a message from your aunty saying you were awake and I was in the area and figured I would come and check in on you as it's been a while."

I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear, seeing him. "Come in, Xander." I told him softly. "Umm, I do have a guest."

"Would you prefer me to come back another night?" I noticed how he seemed casually to put his hands in his pockets as he looked up at where my room was.

"I'm awake." I shrugged as I moved aside for him to come in, but I could see the reluctantness in his eyes. "Or did you have other plans?" I asked him.

"How about we go for a walk and then if your guest wakes up, they won't be upset that I am here?"

"Then come in and give me a few minutes to get dressed." Xander came in at my words and I shut the door behind him quietly. Xander knew where he was going; he'd been to visit many times, but once I got with Danny, his visits grew less and less. I hadn't been sure if that had been because he knew I had a boyfriend and he was respecting me by giving me space to have my relationship or if I'd upset him in some way.

I followed behind him and went into the kitchen to grab my clean clothes I'd washed earlier, ready for the actual start of the day rather than this hour and then ran upstairs as quietly as I could to get myself dressed. In my bedroom, Danny was fast asleep again. I couldn't help but smile a little at him as I snuck around, grabbing everything I needed while getting dressed. I crept back out and down the stairs to find Xander looking out my back window into the garden.

"I just need to get my shoes and coat on."

"Wrap up warm Isabelle, it's cold out there. The few humans I've seen out are wearing scarves to stay warm." I looked up as I grabbed my shoes to see the all-too-familiar smile on Xander's face that told me that he was up to something. I didn't mind too much because I knew Xander's intentions had always been pure—at least to me, all his intentions had been.

"Thanks for the advice." I told him as I got my trainers, sat on the chair in the kitchen, got my shoes on, grabbed my coat and scarf and got wrapped up.

"Shall we?" Xander offered me his arm with a smile. I found it hard to believe that ten years ago, I wouldn't have trusted him in the slightest. Ten years ago, Cordelia, Dominic, and I fled Mirror's Edge to escape what had happened that night. Cordelia took us to the vampire king Viktor and asked for us to hide within his home for a while. I really hadn't been wild about the idea. I was eight and I was being taken into a den of vampires.

Viktor had given us rooms away from the nest and I stayed mostly in that room. I hadn't wanted to venture out and explore, as I didn't trust that a vampire wouldn't hurt me. One day during our stay with Viktor, a tall, well-dressed vampire came into my room after knocking. He'd kept his distance from me but he'd spoken to me and told me I had nothing to fear with him or Viktor around. I hadn't been sure if it had been a ploy to get me to agree to giving up blood and I'd been blunt at that age, so I'd asked him outright and the vampire laughed and told me that under Viktor's laws, it was forbidden to feed on children. It had made me feel a little better about being safe, but I still didn't trust him.

That night, he'd introduced himself as Xander and he'd asked if he could just sit in the corner of my room and read. I told him he could do as he wished, as it was his home and I was just a guest. Xander had laughed and told me that while Cordelia was asking for protection from the vampires, it was my home too. I hadn't been too sure of his words, but Xander had gone and sat in the corner and had done nothing but read.

He'd done the same for a few nights and eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I'd gone to find out what he'd been reading. From that night on, Xander and I became friends and every night Xander came into my room to read and he ended up reading the book out loud for me.

When the time had come to leave, Cordelia had wanted to leave during the daylight hours, but I'd told her I didn't want to. Viktor had spoken to me and asked me why I wouldn't leave with Cordelia and he'd been shocked along with Cordelia when I'd called Xander by his name. Viktor had laughed quietly and asked if I'd meant Lord Xander and I had argued I'd meant Xander, my Xander who had taken to reading to me every night and who was my friend. Viktor had sent for Xander and Xander had come down to us and when Viktor had told him what I'd said, he'd just laughed quietly and then leaned down to me and explained that he was Lord Xander but he appreciated the fact that I'd called him just Xander. I'd run up to him, hugged him tightly, and told him he had to come and find me and had to carry on reading to me, which made him laugh even more. Xander eventually agreed that he'd come and find me and spend some time when it was ok with Cordelia and we'd finish off the book together.

Xander had kept to his word and one winter he'd come to the house we'd all been living in and had brought the book. It had been close to Christmas and that was when we'd finished it. That night, he left his book with me and told me that it was his gift to me. After that night, I saw him less and less and as I grew up and moved out into my own place in the city, Xander came and checked in on me from time to time, like tonight. It had been the one friendship I really felt grateful for because he knew who I was and because I hadn't had to hold back with him.

"I'm ready." I told him softly as I put my arm through his as we walked together down the hallway to the door. Xander pulled his arm free at the door as he let me get my keys and lock the door and then he went into his pocket as I shoved my keys in my pocket. I waited and watched as he slipped on some black gloves and then offered me his hand with a smile.

"Let's go for a little walk." I took his hand as a cold blast of wind crossed my face and made my face sting and I shivered a little into my coat. This had been just what the doctor had ordered and this had been just what the witch part of me needed. I needed a friend and a friend was what I had with Xander.