It was in the hours of the afternoon when she was taking a stroll in the garden that she heard footsteps walking her way. She could hear the grass crunch beneath their soft footsteps, and the minute the figure got close enough, and the familiar Channel fragrance hit her nose, although she had grown to love her perfume, this time it seemed to do nothing but sting her nostrils and she couldn't help but cringe, only to wiggle her nose.
"Sheesh, did you take a bath with the whole bottle of Chany, or has my sense of smell improved, and significantly so by the way its burning my nose" Serilda couldn't help but tease, an attempt to break the ice rather than start of on a low depressing note.
She heard the young woman chuckle, but didn't see her subconsciously smell her blouse just to make sure she hadn't overdone it with her perfume, only to think the act ridiculous, for she had applied it on herself as she always had done before, therefore, the young woman before her had to be joking. Even though Serilda wasn't.
"Very funny Sery. Good to know you haven't lost your sense of humour" she said, although she regretted it a second later when Serilda's expression turned cold.
"I couldn't lose it like I lost everyone else, else I would be a raving lunatic right now" she couldn't help but sour the mood with her words, however, she was the kind to get straight to the point, she really didn't like dilly dallying, especially where her friend was concerned. She had to make her realise just how her leaving had hurt her.
"I know, look, I'm really sorry Serilda, truly, I shouldn't have left you alone for so long, hack we were always inseparable after all, remember"
"You were my eyes and I your heart" Serilda added however, with a straight face as if she didn't believe in that anymore.
"Yes. I know it might take you time to believe me, but I mean it, and I'm here to stay this time" ignoring her promise, Serilda questioned
"How did you get in anyways?"
"I did ring the door bell, and when you took time to answer, I knew this is where you would be, you haven't changed much at all" Amanda said with a chuckle.
Admiring the vast green that surrounded them, from the maze tree bushes that were well trimmed, to the fairy-tale bench under a big tree, made from steel that had swirled iron for design and a green cushion to match. She watched as Serilda walked toward it as if she could see where it sat and sat herself down, only to pat the place next to her.
Slightly happy that her old best friend seemed more understanding than she thought she would be, she obliged. Serilda felt her sit beside her, from the body heat to the smell of her she tried to ignore, for it still burned in a way she couldn't understand.
"You were gone a long time. Why?" Serilda questioned, staring blankly ahead, where the vast bricked walls of her home sat in a distance, and glass doors remained opened on the first floor.
"I don't know either to be honest, after the incident, you shut everyone out, and I understand, I would have done the same if not worse. But when you wouldn't talk to me for months, I don't know, time just faded you know, I guess I can say it became easier to just stay away and give you your time, rather than force things onto you" the young woman explained, resisting the urge to accuse her best friend of failing to have reached out as well, for she wasn't entirely to blame, surely her Serilda understood that.
Looking at the young woman beside her, still as short as she remembered, with the beautifully platinum blonde that hair dye couldn't even replicate, her heart only ached terribly at the scar on her face. Guilt, perhaps that was another reason they all stayed away, for they had failed to protect her, look out for her, be her eyes as they had always promised to be, a promise they had kept until that night.
Perhaps it was because they had failed her that they found it easier to act like she never existed, or more so the incident never happened, rather than face the brunt of the pain and sorrow guilt came with. Amanda couldn't help her tears then, as her mind raged.
"I failed you Serilda" she sniffed, "I-I shouldn't have left you in that hallway all alone, I-I'm s-so sor-r-ry" she couldn't help but be a blubbering mess through the words as tears flooded her cheeks. Serilda turned then, her own heart clenching, and painfully so at the pain in her friend's voice. Shaking her head, she reassured, her hand rubbing at the young woman's back in a soothing manner
"Amanda, it wasn't you fault, neither of us could have predicted that going to the movies as we always did on our Friday nights, that this one would end differently. You hear me?" she said, as sternly as she could to make the young woman understand, to halt her guilty party, for she believed that all that happens in life has a reason behind it. to her it was inevitable, but now
she had to keep braving on, and her Amanda would have to get over it too.
Amanda couldn't explain it in that moment as her cries came to an end and her heart was freed of the pain and guilt she felt, as Serilda's hand rubbed her back. Letting out a sigh, she smiled her friend's way
"You're very strong you know that" Serilda resisted the urge to shake her head in denial for strong was the last thing she felt. Though it seemed she was over it, that wasn't the case, she had simply learnt to live with it better.
What had happened was part of her, a part she was still learning to love and accept. She thought herself weak, but she was on the road to becoming strong, hence her self-defence classes, her meditations, her forcing affirmations onto herself. For if she didn't learn to love herself, how would others know how to love her.
"Well I have to be if I am to be the next daredevil" she said, and she got her desired response when her friend laughed.
"But of course, then you'd be his girl instead of Elektra, I mean she's bad ass but, you're way cooler" Amanda couldn't help but enthuse causing Serilda to let out a laugh of her own. Which only turned into a coughing fit, her throat all of a sudden feeling dry.
"Hey, you okay?" Amanda questioned, Serilda nodded trying to calm her coughing fit. Clearing her throat, she said.
"Yea, I'm just really thirsty" she said, as if a little surprised herself, more so at how raspy her voice sounded too.
"Well, come on then, and this way I can actually raid your fridge, or pantry, well either one" Amanda finished off with a shrug, looping her hand with that of Serilda's who only shook her head, a knowing expression.
"And here I thought you had grown out of that impolite habit" she tutted, to which her friend simply defended
"It's only impolite when you do it at a stranger's house"
"Right" Serilda drawled out, disbelieving of her logic.
It was when water didn't curb her thirst, no matter how much she drank, that made a frown mare Serilda's face as she stood in the kitchen. Although the feeling of thirst was but a subtle one, it still grated on her nerves in the back of her mind as she tried to ignore it.
"So" Amanda started with a clap of her hand. Half startling Serilda out of her thoughts, chuckling she asked
"How about a movie night, for old time's sake" Serilda barely cringed at the association, in fact she gave a smile and a nod of agreement, mood much improved she said
"Yeah, that sounds good, I'll make the corn and you take care of the movie" she suggested, only to add "You do still remember where they are right?" her friend all but nodded only to remember that she couldn't see her, and she gave a one worded reply
"Yup" before she walked her way to the lounge. Serilda knew the exact place where the popcorn bags were placed in the pantry. Three shelves up, to the far right of the shelve, her hand grazed the dry cold paper, and she made to grab three, not caring for the flavour for neither of them were picky.
Popping them in the microwave, she searched for a plastic bowl that would be large enough for the three bags, knowing from previous experience when she had made them for the first time with her mother, she now knew the feel of the right bowl without any second guesses.
The night turned into a pleasant one, with her listening to the movie, and Amanda narrating where needed just to paint a clear picture of what was going on. It also helped that her friend was a talker during movies, a habit that tended to annoy some, for they preferred to watch the movie uninterrupted by unnecessary comments.
Having been around someone for the past hours seemed to have distracted her from the hollowness in her chest, a feeling that was slowly creeping back to the forefront of her mind as she from having just bid farewell to her friend a few minute ago, walked toward her room. Only to be met with a feeling she thought she would never feel again, the scalding heat as if she stood beneath the sun.
Although it was hot, it wasn't the burning kind, her skin was mere sizzles pleasure. She couldn't understand why she didn't feel frightened by the sudden presence of the man, or question the comfort she felt as she was cocooned by the blazing warmth. She simply smiled as she closed the door behind her and leaned against it.
"So we meet again" she said softly and the man that sat at the foot of her bed simply took her in, a smile of his own, happy at the fact that she seemed just as glad to have him around as he was to finally see her.
Although time was fast on earth compared to the time in Fata, it felt like he hadn't seen her in decades. His heart had drowned in yearning and ache when he had arrived back home a week ago, only to give everyone a shock of their lives when he showed up well and healed, he couldn't stand the feeling any longer hence the risk he was taking by visiting her this time.
For he was yet to catch the enemy after his life, he knew now that they also figured out why he came back as if he hadn't been on the brink of his demise, just as everyone speculated, that he had finally found his intended, and sooner or later, they would find her only to use her against him.
Hence his mind was a flurry of thoughts on if whether he should take her with him this time or leave her behind again only to hope they never find her. For as he watched the delicate petal before him, he couldn't stand the thought of any sort of harm befalling her. He also didn't like how sappy she made him feel, yet a part of him found delight in that.
"Yes little rose, have you been well?" he asked, surveying every particle of her, only for his brows to frown, for she was paler than the last time he had been here. With that, he stood up only to take slow steps toward her
"I think I should be the one asking you that" she said, referring to the fact that she had had to take care of his wound the first time he had shown up.
"Why, so you can nurse me back to health?" he questioned with a cocked eyebrow, only to smirk and trail a finger down her neck "cause if that's the case, I'll tell you, I have various ideas on how you can do just that" a seductive lilt to is baritone voice, causing her to shiver not only from the feeling of something cold trailing down her neck but from his voice as well.
His breath just about teased her nostrils, in all its metallic honeyed stench. Noticing this, she couldn't help but scrunch her nose up and say
"Eergh, is that blood I smell? from you mouth even?" she cringed her face scrunched up.
The man merely chuckled amused thinking her to be adorably ugly with her face scrunched up so, however, all humour left him when her question rang in his mind again and he realised she could smell the blood he had drank a day ago. Something she wasn't supposed to be able to get even a whiff of. The sort of blood that now couldn't satiate his thirst, because his throat was now parched for a certain kind that would leak still hot and fresh from living flesh.
"What do you mean, petal? He asked, his brows furrowed, his eyes flitting about her face as if that would explain it all to him
"What I mean is your breath smells like both blood and honey" she started now getting confused herself she asked "Are you a vampire?" to which Zephyr let out a booming laughter, highly amused, only for his laughter to settle into a chuckle with a shake of his head, caging her by the door. His majestic palms palming the door above her short stature, he looked down on
her
"No little rose, I'm not of that kind, but what I would like to know is, How you can detect the scent when your teeny wintsy nose is of the fickle human kind?" the question was more directed unto himself than toward the young human before him.
"Well you aren't exactly aiming to hide it with how close you are to me" she retorted for it would be impossible to miss the smell of something that is right before your nose.
"Mhmm" the man simply hummed, in contemplation making a move to stand a few feet from her.
He assessed her, and to him she seemed to be nothing but human, and he concluded that perhaps her being mate to him was reason behind her heightened senses. With that conclusion for it was all that made sense for him in that moment, he nodded more so to himself. Before either could make to say more, a voice came from two rooms away, her mother loudly let out
"Honey, are you sleeping already!?" Serilda heard her mother question from the hallway, and by the steps of her feet, she knew the woman was walking their way and not a minute too soon, her door creakily turned.
And the woman couldn't hold back a gasp from escaping her throat at the image before her.