Kindred Fate

Chapter Six

The loud knocking on my door pulled my dwindling attention from the nature book I was reading. I walked to the door, glad for the interruption in my very silent afternoon. "Who is it?" I called out before I unlocked the door.

"It's Ben." His voice sailed loudly through the thick door.

I flinched, what was he doing here? "Didn't we just see each other, like ten minutes ago?"

"How sweet, you missed me. I thought we'd go sightseeing."

I stared at the closed door tensed for a few seconds before I opened it. I was greeted with a warm smile and excited big blue eyes. I smiled politely back at him, "It's freezing cold outside and I highly doubt there is anything to see in this town."

"You can't be serious?" He said walking past me and into my tiny room. I felt a little apprehensive. This was the first time he was in my room, and near my children. "There is a lot to see in this town, it's just a better attraction without all the snow."

"And that would be?" I closed the room and moved to stand next to him in the middle of the room.

He looked at me, doubt in his eyes. "Do you even know the name of the town you've lived in for two weeks?" He chuckled at my blank gaze. "Oh, you should be embarrassed!"

I laughed, feeling a little at ease. "Okay, tell me?"

"How about I show you," he turned to the crib, "We can bring the kids if you like?"

My smile dropped as everything inside me stiffened, "You mean... take them outside?"

"Don't worry, they'll be warm. We can wrap them up in ten blankets if you like," he pointed at the stroller next to the crib, "That stroller looks big. We can wrap them up together, keep them extra toasty."

"Take them outside?" I asked again still rattled.

He stepped to me and placed his hands on my shoulders, "Don't worry, I'm a black belt." I chuckled but that didn't make me even a little bit more comfortable. "Let's just try it. If we get to the door and you still don't feel safe, we'll come back and hang out here. I'll pack up the stroller with blankets, you wrap the babies."

He held up the book I was reading and gave me an incredulous look, "Know your Earth? You can't be serious!"

"It's a good read," I defended myself.

"There are other less depressing and boring genres you can read apart from this. Romance, thriller... you are too young to be reading this!"

"I'm not into romance, fairy tales or horrors, especially not mythologies." Ever since werewolves and vampires stopped being Halloween stories and became more real than fiction in my life, I just couldn't read those kinds of books anymore. Romance books only reminded me of the love of my life and how I had abandoned him in fear and desperation. I should write a book on my own life, it would be a best seller, like those vampire books. For all I know, they could have been true stories and not fictions. But unlike her, I wanted the threats against my family completely gone before I planned on a happily ever after.

"Okay, you really need to get out of this room, immediately!"

I did what I was told, the whole time praying nothing would go wrong. I wasn't in Orlando anymore, where there were four- I mean three werewolves shadowing my every move. It was easy to feel safe there even with the threat of death from other werewolves. But here, I was in a human world where anything can happen and I wouldn't have Ash's protection or blood to heal me.

Ash... I winced. The thought of his name made me hurt.

We got to the door, and just like he said, he waited for me to take the first step outside. I looked at him for reassurance and then I did what I never had since I entered the building. I went for a walk with my kids.

Ben was a ready good tour guide around Oak Bluff. We only went to the sights that were close to our apartment block. I had more fun that I had expected to and Ben was the best company to have. We got a few stares for the locals and of course the friendly smiles edged with curiosity. It would take just a few hours before Judy found out and then, the next morning, she'd try and find out from the source.

"So how old are they?" He asked pointing to the stroller. The conversation till that moment had been general and nothing personal on both our parts.

"A few weeks," I said. I was keeping it safe and vague.

"And how old are you, don't say a few years," he joked catching on.

"I'm eighteen," I answered with a smile. "What about you?"

"Twenty," he answered. "What are you doing here?"

I didn't like where his questions were leading to, "I'm a run away," I gave him the story the rest of the town knew. And oddly enough, it wasn't quite far from the truth.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, I think I'll be the one sharing today. I came here to learn more about my cousin." His tone changed and so did his face. There was a darkness that settled on him draining all the joy he had a few seconds ago out of him.

"You never knew your cousin?" I asked trending carefully on the subject. I didn't want to be intrusive but he looked like he wanted to talk.

"We only met once and I was still a kid. She was so beautiful and sweet. She loved me so much...." he stopped then cleared his throat before he spoke again, "She was very important to me."

"I'm so sorry... what do you remember about her?"

"Every single moment of the two days we spent together," his face lit up, "She looked a little like you but taller, darker and very beautiful. She was the model type."

"Oh please go on, my self-esteem is doing just fine," I joked which made him laugh.

"It's the inner beauty that matters which you have in abundance. She did too. She took care of me those two days, like a mother would."

"What did you guys do together?" I asked taking a seat on a bench. My body wasn't quite ready for strain and the walk was exhausting me.

He pulled the stroller close to me before he sat down, "She was sick so we didn't do much together. She told me stories, which at times I thought were fictitious but as I find out more about her they are turning out to be very true."

"Were the stories good or bad?" I reminded myself not to probe too much. That would be my last question unless he offered the information.

"A mix of the two." he looked down at his hands and then he turned to me, a brave look on his face, "Stories I wish she hadn't told me. They kind of screwed me up." I put my hand in his, unable to give him the comfort he needed. The more I looked at him, the more I saw myself, and it was safe and scary at the same time. "Her parents were the only family I had left. I thought I'd find them here, get some information about my mother's side of the family but.... you know the rest of that story."