Helene lived in a small town, an hour or so from the nearest city. She had wanted to leave when she was eighteen. She had been accepted into several universities to study history. But then her Mother had fallen ill, seriously ill and she had no choice but to stay and look after her. Four years later and she was still in the town, living with her older sister, working in a little coffee shop.
She hoped dearly that she could put the events of the night behind her and return to her safe, uneventful life. But, she felt uneasy, in a way she could not pinpoint. The rational side of her mind put it down to the tea that she had drank the night before.
But it seemed, life wanted to boot her rational thinking out of her mind, as she thought about her shower, and heard the water begin to crash down onto the tiles.
"No, no, that did not happen." She chuckled it off, sliding on her slippers to make her way to the bathroom.
There she was met with the unsettling sight of her shower, running at full pressure, at a temperature that was not too hot, and not too cold, which she was sure was not the temperature that the taps had been left at.
Her mouth hung open as he eyes grew wide.
"That's it, you've lost your marbles." She decided aloud. But, even this was no match for her rational mind. She forced herself to brush it off, thinking it a strange coincidence.
As she stood behind the counter in the coffee shop, her mind reeled. She couldn't help her mind wandering back to the woman with the white eyes. Her words played on repeat in her mind. What had she meant by kind? Helene couldn't think about it for too long before her mind began to reel and race and she started to feel dizzy.
The little coffee shop she worked in had a number of very underwhelming customers, ordering flat whites and black coffees, builders teas and the like. So, when the six foot one blonde boy with the face of a supermodel and wardrobe to match walked in, both Helene and her coworker, Carry took notice.
He ordered a caramel macchiato, a drink that was technically on the menu, but had no right to be due to the infrequency of people ordering it. Carry asked Helene to make the drink. She thought it would be a nice treat for them, to be able to ogle this boy while he sipped his complicated beverage.
As she was pouring the drink into the mug, she looked up at him for a split second and was met with the white eyes, the same eyes she had seen in the woman the night before, no pupil, all white. Next thing she knew there were broken pieces of mug all around her and her feet were being scolded.
"Now, just don't move." Carry instructed her and she was sure there was no worry of that. She watched as the man smiled knowingly and walked out of the shop.
Carry tried to press the topic after he left.
"He paid, but he didn't get his coffee, how weird!" But Helene had no mind to discuss it any further. She wanted to go home, curl up into a ball and forget about the last 48 hours.
---
Ivan chuckled as he walked away from the shop. The poor little thing was so frightened, so naive. She had obviously never been told anything about any of this. He pitied her for that. She was facing so much power alone.
He reported back to Gerard.
"She was terrified, she dropped the coffee all over her feet." Gerard nodded, concerned.
"She is going to be a difficult one. Is there a way you can get to her?" He asked and Ivan smiled wryly.
"She has a sister." He stated and Gerard sighed, shaking his head, grinning knowingly.
"Do what you have to do." He told him and Ivan nodded.
Ivan set to work quickly, Stephanie Reid was Helene's sister. She was approaching thirty and had a moderately influential position in a local law firm. She was pretty enough, a little too skinny for him, but he was sure that his plan would work well. Ivan had always been particularly adept at compulsion and mind bending. He used to use it as a parlor trick. But every now and then it proved useful.
He had convinced the manager of the firm that he was an attorney, transferring from a London branch. It worked perfectly and he found himself suited and booted, playing the role of a big city lawyer. He caught Stephanie's attention rather quickly and it didn't take long to convince her that they had already met and been on a few dates when she had travelled to London for a case.
"Oh yes, I remember you." She smiled knowingly and he felt a twinge of guilt that soon dissipated.
It took four days to create a life with Stephanie. He had convinced her that they had a romantic two week affair, and that he was going to be the love of her life. She looked so happy when he whispered these things to her and he wondered how he was going to wriggle himself out of this one. But, he focused on the task at hand and asked Stephanie to introduce him to her sister.
"I want her to like me. She means a lot to you so it is important to me."
Ivan updated Gerard.
"It seems you're pretty deep in this one." Gerard chuckled, hearing about the story he was spinning.
"It's fun. She's a nice girl, it's nice to watch her fall in love with me." He told him and Gerard nodded.
"Well, don't hurt her too badly, else Helene will become your enemy and I have a feeling that this one is not one you're going to want to anger."
---
Helene was confused when Steph had told her that she was in love.
"What do you mean? You have never mentioned it before." She sat back, placing her fork down skeptically.
"I really didn't think it was anything. But then he showed up at my office and said that he wanted to be with me. I have never been so happy in my life." She professed and Helene felt half happy and half skeptical for her sister.
"I want you to meet him." Steph told her and Helene nodded.
A few days later, Helene laid the table, sweat dripping from her brow. Life had continued to become more peculiar, with her shower turning on automatically, sinks blasting water at work randomly. She was beginning to become concerned. She wondered who she could go to. A doctor would lock her up in a psych ward, maybe she should go back to the Crystal Castle and ask one of the women. But the idea of going back to that place made her spine shiver.
All of her thoughts came to a halt when Steph walked through the front door with her new boyfriend. It was the man, the one with the white eyes in the coffee shop. Her alarm started ringing in her head, something wasn't right. Although it could have made sense that he visited the coffee shop because he had begun working at the firm, she couldn't shake the idea that he had been sent to convince her of the peculiarity of her life.
He introduced himself with an outstretched hand and she took it and shook lightly.
"Ivan." He smirked knowingly and she felt they shared a strange secret even she didn't know.
"Helene, a pleasure." She managed to blurt out. She busied herself with cooking after that as the two lovebirds sat at the table.
Helene peared over her shoulder as the pasta boiled. Steph was giggling, playing with Ivan's shirt, like a schoolgirl in love. But his eyes stared straight at her, piercing and cold. Suddenly, his pupils disappeared, then reappeared. She held onto the counter as he grinned over at her. She wondered what kind of sick joke this was and who it was that was playing it on her.
She walked over to the table with the dish of pasta, her hands shaking the entire way.
"Let me help you." He took the dish from her and placed it on the table. They sat and ate and Steph complained about Helene's lack of conversation.
"I promise she is usually the light of the party. But tonight you are not on form." She sneered at her sister, spiteful that she was not impressing her new boyfriend.
"It's alright. I know I can be a little intimidating." He smiled over at her in a way that said more than she wanted it to.
---
Ivan was impressed by her. She didn't hide anything. He could feel her disdain towards him emanating from her core. She saw through his lies, she knew that for some reason, he was here for her. He could have made up some spiel about his life as a lawyer and the love that he had for her sister, but he knew that it would have no purpose as she already saw the lie.
He offered to wash dishes with her and they stood, side by side as she washed and he dried.
"How are your feet?" He asked and she sighed, looking over her shoulder to check that Steph was watching TV loud enough to not hear them.
"If you lot have something to tell me then stop playing games and tell me. I am sick of waiting around to see you with your creepy white eyes." She huffed, sploshing the dish into the water. He couldn't hold in his laughter then.
"Well, I have to say, most people are more scared than you are." He shook his head, shoulders shaking with laughter.
"All I can do is turn on the shower with my mind. Not exactly comic book worthy." She passed him the dish, with more power than was probably necessary.
"Just, whatever this is about, leave Steph out of it. She doesn't deserve being lied to." She told him and he nodded.
"I understand." He dried off the dish and looked down at her.
"Meet me tomorrow, in the alley next to your work. I will tell you what you need to know." He told her and then he walked over to Steph, knelt down in front of her and looked her in the eye.
"I am sorry, love. You found out that I was not worth your time. I messed you around. You broke up with me, you hate me now." He told her and Helene watched, fear freezing her body.
---
Steph awoke from her trance and was filled with a rage she couldn't explain.
"Why the hell are you here?! Get out!" She screamed and he placed both his hands up in a passive nature. He sent Helene a knowing look as he collected his coat and left.
Helene gave Steph a pint of icecream and a trashy rom com. She told her she wanted to be alone, and Helene was grateful for this. She had so much to think about. What in the hell was the white eyed guy? How had he managed to change Steph's mind from love to hate so quickly? She couldn't stop thinking of the words 'our kind', over and over again she thought of what our kind was and whether she was in some way related to this white eyed, blonde haired man. Whatever the connection was, she knew she had to go and meet him the next day, to get some answers.