Nirvana

Chapter fourteen

    “Arrghhh!!” Vanessa screamed as she punched her pillow. “He’s such a big jerk! Doesn’t he realize how much stress I’m already in? Who does he think he is, cornering me in the office like that? I should have punched his stupid face!” she took another jab at her pillow and flopped down on the bed. She was heated, yet she felt incredibly guilty. She’s been avoiding him for days. The look on his face, the desperation in his voice as he reached out to her, it made her heart melt no matter how cold she tried to be. She didn’t want to treat him like this. She didn’t want to stop being his friend, but what else could she do? She felt so betrayed. Their friendship had been based on a lie. How could he do this to someone he said he held dear? Something nudged her leg, she looked up to see the dog resting his head on her bed. His eyes showed worry. 

    “Are you alright?” he asked. “You haven’t thrashing like that since you got back. Trouble at school?”

    “Yeah, sorry, It’s nothing.” She pulled her pillow close to her chest. 

    “Is it about the green eyed man? Did his true nature surprise you?”

    “You could say that.” she sighed. “It seems parts of my life have been kept a secret for a while. There’s still so much I don’t remember about my past. Then this comes up outta nowhere and I just don’t know how to handle it. I just...don’t wanna be left in the dark anymore.” He was silent for a while. 

    “Would you like to know my secret?” he finally asked. This seemed to peak her interest. “I do not wish for you to grow to hate me by hiding who I am.”

    “Then what is it?”

    “Not now, you have plenty on your plate as it is. If my memory is correct, you have to meet up with a friend soon. Why not wait until you come back to talk?” 

    “What? You can’t peak my interest like that and tell me to wait. Why even mention it at all?” 

    “I’m sorry. I admit that is quite cruel of me. I just want you to have fun tonight and not worry. Please let your worries go at least for the time being.” 

    Vanessa huffed, but let it go. “Fine, guess that means I should be getting ready.” She rose from the bed and headed toward the bathroom. “I never got your name by the way, or do you not have one?”

    “Pryor, my name is Pryor.”

    Darren called Vanessa at 7:30, letting her know he’d be waiting by the front gate. As she made her way toward the entrance she found herself feeling giddy. She hadn’t been on many dates in the past. It didn’t help that this would be her first time going out with a human at that. However, she was nervous about the security. For the past few days, there’s been guards standing near the gates to be sure her and her friends didn;t leave the premises without permission. As she neared the gate, she was surprised to see that no one was there. Darren waved at her with a bright smile. 

    “Where are the guards?” she asked as she looked around to make sure they weren’t being watched. 

    “Like I said, I have friends here too.” he winked and led her out of the gate. As they started walking, Darren took notice of her appearance. She wore a black knitted sweater covered by an army green coat and a plaid overall skirt. Her hair was done up in loose curls. “You look nice tonight.” 

    “Oh, thank you.” she said bashfully as she gently rolled the curls around her finger. “It took me hours to get my hair like this.” 

    “It suits you. You really are beautiful.” it was obvious he had caught her off guard as he could see her face start to turn red. Her shyness had caused him to feel embarrassed himself, so he cleared his throat and took out his phone. “So, I heard from Sarina that you’re vegetarian. I figured we would go for dinner first and catch a movie at 9. Sounds good?” 

    “Sure, what movie are we going to see?”

    “Well there’s this new horror movie that came out, though I wasn’t sure if you’d be interested. If not, we can watch a comedy.”

    “No, it’s fine. I actually really like horror movies.” 

    Dylan rode his motorcycle toward Nina’s house. He was glad there wasn’t traffic. The air was getting colder, but the fire/325 fueled by the anger he had that Vanessa was out with Darren, warmed his entire body. He pulled out his phone to check the address. When he entered the apartment complex he called her out. Nina ran out and smiled at him. 

    “Hey,” She greeted him. He held out a helmet for her. “Woah, you ride a motorcycle? Are you even old enough to drive one of these?” he shrugged. “I-Is it safe?”

    “Question is, are you safe with me.” he smirked. “Come on.” She pulled on the helmet and climbed onto the back of the bike. “Hold on tight.” she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. “I’ll go slow since it’s your first time.” he teased. He kicked the bike into gear and drove out of the complex. 

    While they were driving, Nina noticed how Dylan would turn his head toward the sky as if he were sniffing the air. She wanted to ask, but decided not to. It was best she let him concentrate. After 10 minutes of driving around, they came to a stop at a restaurant called Poppy’s. It wasn’t a place she was very familiar with, but she knew it was popular for its vegan dishes. They parked his bike across the street and he helped her off. “We’re eating here?” she asked. 

    “You don’t like it here?” he asked. 

    "It's not that. I've just never been here."

    Dylan led her into the restaurant, keeping his head down and his hood pulled over his head to hide his face. He could tell Vanessa was already there, yet he didn’t see her. 

    “Something smells really good.” Nina said, sniffing the air. A woman with dark brown skin greeted them. Her hair was shaved on one side and she had a rose tattoo on her neck with a ribbon that said Blessed. Dylan thought she looked cool. 

    “Welcome to Poppy’s, how many people?” she asked.

    “Just two.” Dylan said. She led them to a small booth. At that moment he spotted Vanessa sitting near the back. She hadn’t noticed them come in, which was good. However, from this position it’d be hard for him to see. Guess he’ll have to rely on his ears. Their waitress handed them two menus and walked away. Dylan sat at the end to stay aware of his surroundings. He knew it was rude, but he kept his hood on to hide his face. He felt bad, and hoped that Nina wasn’t disappointed that he hadn't decided to dress nicer for her. He was only wearing jeans and a gray hoodie, wanting to keep his appearance discrete. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind. She looked through the menu, her eyebrows creating wrinkles from frowning.     “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Don’t see anything you like?” 

    “It’s nothing,” she lied. “It’s just that this place is kind of expensive. I’d only be able to afford one meal. Too bad, I wanted to try this cake.” 

    “I’m paying for dinner so don’t worry about the price. Just get whatever you want.” 

    “Really? You don’t have to do that Dylan. I’m the one who asked you out, I should be paying for dinner.” 

    “I don’t mind. My parents tend to give me too much money anyway, so I save a lot.” 

    “Oh, then thank you.” She thanked him. Her eyes were saddened. “It must be nice to have a family so well off. A lot of the money I earn gets put into savings for college. I don’t really get to go out like this often so I’m really glad you changed your mind about coming out with me.” The girl with the shaved head and tattoo approached their table.  

    “Are you two ready to order or do you need more time?”

    “Uh, I have the shrimp and steak dinner, just without any onions.” Nina said. The waitress wrote down her order and turned to Dylan. He took a quick glance at the menu. 

    “The grilled chicken with fried vegetables.” he said, handing over his menu. 

    “Okay, what will you have to drink?” the waitress asked. 

    “Oh, a sprite would be nice.” Nina said.

    “Just water for me, thanks.” Dylan said. 

    Nina suddenly felt self conscious about ordering something other than water. She didn’t know why, but it felt like she had to act more classy if she wanted him to like her. After 5 long minutes of silence, Dylan cleared his throat.

    “So, you’re a freshman right? Where did you go before attending Phoenix?”

    “I went to Wayward. It was the closest grammar school to my house.” 

    “Out of all the other schools, why’d you choose to come here? You know it was a school primarily for angels right? Are you trying to get into the army?” he asked, though his eyes kept shifting toward the back of the restaurant.

    “No, nothing like that. I doubt I’m suited to join the army. Phoenix is also really close to my home. It was really convenient that the school opened for human enrollment. My parents told me that if I didn’t get into this school, then we’d have to move so I could go to Greenwood Academy. I didn’t want to move, all my friends were all trying to get into Phoenix.” she started to blush, “mainly because there were rumors that a lot of hot angels went here. It’s silly right?” Dylan stayed quiet making the atmosphere slightly awkward. She cleared her throat. “Anyway, what about you? Why’d you come to Phoenix?”

    “Well…” he began. “If I’m being honest. I wanted to see Vanessa again.” He sighed as the memories from the past few years invaded his thoughts. “I left her alone for a really long time. It was really hard for me...you could say I was getting really sick. Then when I found her again, everything started to get better. I felt better.” a gentle smile pulled at his cheeks.

    "You really care about her don't you?" she fumbled with her belt. 

    “I mean, she was the first friend I ever made...she's special.." Dylan suddenly felt embarrassed by how much he was telling her. How he felt was none of her business. "Plus, you know, I’ve trained with an retired veterian and wanted to see if I could make it as a herd hunter here as well.” Dylan’s attention was snatched away at the sound of Vanessa’s laughter. He cringed as he watched Darren feed her something off his plate. He let out a low growl.

    “Dylan,you okay?” Nina asked, as she turned to follow his gaze. “Is that Vanessa?  Who’s that boy she’s with? I feel like I’ve seen him around school before, but I never caught his name. Wanna go over and say hi?”

    “No!” Dylan yelped. He blushed at his sudden outburst. “I mean, it looks like they’re on a date. We shouldn’t disturb them. I’m pretty sure they want to be alone.'' He hated the way it sounded, but he had no choice. “Besides, I’m on a date with you too, let's just keep this about us.” She smiled brightly. That sure convinced her. He relaxed, though kept an eye on Darren. The waitress soon arrived with their orders. 

    Dylan hardly paid attention to what Nina was saying throughout the dinner. He was too focused on trying to listen in on Vanessa and Darren’s conversation. What could they honestly be talking about that’s making her laugh so much? Surely he wasn’t that funny. He prayed their date would end soon before he felt the urge to rip Darren’s spine out of his neck. After dinner, Vanessa and Darren left to go to the movies. Dylan waited until they were gone to get up. When he glanced back at their table, he noticed a wallet sitting on the seat. “I’m gonna head to the bathroom.” he told Nina and made his way toward the back. He picked up the wallet and opened it. There was about 50 dollars, and a school ID with Darren’s picture. i***t left his wallet. he thought. A mischievous thought crossed his mind. The money was obviously for the movies, but if he didn’t have it with him, he'd likely have to take her home. He returned to Nina with a grin on his face. “Ready to go?” 

    “Ow!” Katskai cried

     “I’m sorry, did that hurt?” Sarina asked. She was sitting on the bed next to him massaging his hand. Katskai shook his head. 

    “Not because of you babe, it’s just still a little sore. It still feels like the middle of my hand is missing.” Sarina kissed his hand. 

    “It must be painful.” she guessed, rubbing his hand with her thumb. “Too bad I’m not a healer like Vanessa. If I were I’d make all the pain go away.” he smiled and raised her face to kiss him. 

    “You already make the pain go away.” he kissed her again, tilting her head back to make the kiss deeper. She let out a quiet moan. His lips traveled down to her neck. She giggled, pushing him away. 

    “You’re cute, but trying to seduce me won’t make me feel more useful. You were already hurt, I shouldn’t have lashed out like I did. You got a serious head injury.” she glanced at the scar below Katskai’s hairline and sighed sadly. He wrapped his arms around her waist. 

    “C’mon babe, don’t say that,” he comforted her. “You are useful, not to mention the serious hard on I got when I saw you rage like that on my behalf. God knows I love a feisty woman.” he tilted her head back and kissed her neck. He felt her quiver. “And right now, I can’t feel anything other than your big, soft, sexy ass on me right now.” He gave her a smack on the butt using his injured hand. 

    “Katskai, quit it.” she giggled. 

    “See, no pain.” he grinned and she rested her head on his. 

    “You’re so dumb.” she whispered as she ran her hands under his shirt. “When do you stop playing around?” 

    He flipped her onto her back. “That’s hard to do when I have you to play with.” he ran his tongue down her neck to her collarbone. She quivered again. He could feel her body growing hotter. She pushed him back to suck on his neck, carefully watching where his injured hand was to avoid hurting him.

    “You don’t have to be gentle with me baby.” he moaned as he wrapped his hand around her hair to pull her head back and give her a deep hickey. “You’re not going to hurt me, so don’t hold back.” he licked her collar bone and cuffed her breast, massaging them in circles. He rubbed her n*****s between his thumb and index finger. 

    “That feels good.” she purred. His hand slipped up her skirt, gripping her butt. As they kissed, everything seemed to fade away. She froze when she felt something wet seep out of her, making her panties feel cold. Katskai excited her, but not this quickly. She wasn’t even all the way turned on yet. She hurried to climb off of him. 

    “What? What’s wrong?”

She touched her panties and gasped when she saw red. Her face turned white when she felt more wetness slip out of her. “I have to go to the bathroom.” she said before grabbing her bag and rushing to his bathroom. Moments later, she returned to his room. He was sitting up now. 

    “Everything okay?” he asked. “You ran out so quickly, I got worried.” she let out a tired sigh and walked over to sit next to him. She laid her head on his shoulder.

    “Yeah, I’m fine. I just started my period. At the worst time at that.” he slipped his arm around her shoulder.

    “Jeez, that’s all? You scared me, I thought I hurt you.” 

    “Guess thats no s*x for us.”

    “I mean, I’m not scared of a little blood.” he teased. “My shower works fine.” she glared at him and he chuckled. “It's cool though. We don’t have to.” he said, rubbing her shoulder. she sighed again.

    "Can’t we catch a break at least once this week? With everything else that’s going on, I’m gonna start ripping my hair out if I don’t get some form of relief.”

    “Ion think we’re the ones having it the roughest. Dylan’s going through it since Vanessa’s still not speaking to him.”

    “Serves him right.” Sarina argued. “For someone who claims to be in love with her, he sure doesn’t keep s**t real with her. I’ve told him to stop hesitating, Nessa’s a big girl, she can handle the truth.”

    "You knew what he was?” Katskai asked. 

    “I had my suspicions. He never said exactly what he was, but he did admit he wasn’t human before. I was surprised too, but it wasn’t me who needed to know this side of him. He’d make some excuse saying she’d hate him forever if she knew. Guess he wasn’t too wrong about that. Still, she had a right to know. It’s his own fault for withholding it for so long.”

    “Why’d you never tell Nessa?” 

    “Wasn’t my secret to tell. I’ll admit Dylan can be a little reserved, but I still saw him as a friend. He’d often confide in me stuff he couldn’t say out loud. Moreso, I would force information out of him. Still, if he wanted it kept a secret, I’d take it to my grave. I’d never betray a friend’s trust.” she sighed again. “I hope one day Dylan learns to open up. I know she didn't mean what she said about hating him. They’ll make up soon enough. He just needs to grow some balls before he really winds up losing her for good.”

    “Should I be worried about how much you two seem to be chatting about this stuff?” katskai teases. She grinned and kissed his cheek. 

    “Why would you? He’s Nessa’s burden and your mine. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”