A day had passed and there was no news of anything from Rowen, Roxanne and Diane. Speaking of the latter, she'd called but her brother didn't pick. Yeah, Timothy stared at the phone and watched as his sister blasted his phone with messages. Sapphire, of course, got annoyed with him and told him to just meet Diane somewhere and explain himself. The worst she could do was get mad, which she most likely already was.
After the talk with Rowen, Timothy followed Sapphire home. They'd actually dropped his friend off and it never occurred to him that they were roommates until they reached the front door of his mate's house. She didn't say anything though, but that didn't stop him from feeling a type of way. They only had to go and buy clothes for him, some groceries too and that was it. Timothy was now a resident of Sapphire's house.
"You should invite her over," Sapphire said one morning.
She was lying on his bed, hands cupping her head as she watched him dress up after coming out of the shower. Of course, Timothy did this with zero amount of grace and a red face. He really needed to stop getting red or pink at every instance. He wasn't some shy kid.
She smirked. "I don't know what you're hiding. I've already seen everything."
She didn't need to remind him. But it was good in a way, it made Timothy remember that they still had things to talk about. For someone so interested in getting information, he didn't seem to be in a hurry when it came to her.
"So are you going to invite her?"
"Here?"
He would've agreed if she wasn't a stranger to Diane. He'd told his sister all that happened that night, even about her, but he didn't tell her that he was living with her. How on earth was he going to start explaining that Sapphire was his mate?? Or even that he was attacked by werewolves! That he was probably dead meat now, because no one was going to let go of the fact that he killed a person.
The fact that he killed a person... He'd not thought about that deeply at all. He wasn't even bothered. That actually scared him in a way. Because it meant, if it happened again, he still wouldn't feel any type of way.
The only time he felt any sort of pain was when he realized that he was bleeding through his ears and that he could hear everything, but he never mentioned it to Sapphire. He got headphones, and that was it. He was trying to control his pain by himself and the house seemed to be helping him. He really didn't want anyone to worry about him.
At this point, he didn't come to school to study because his school life was practically non-existent now. There was so much going on and... He had to find a way to protect himself. But how?
"It'll be fine," Sapphire said, noticing his obvious panic as she looked at him from the bed. "It's not like she'll hurt you. None can when I'm around."
"Shouldn't it be the guy protecting the lady?" Timothy mused.
She laughed. "Trust me, you're going to be doing plenty of that soon. I'm just being kind because you're new to everything."
He suddenly remembered something as he sat down on a nearby chair. "So you're a witch."
"Yup."
"As powerful as Rowen?" He asked, though he'd never seen Rowen use his powers before. With the growing tension, maybe he will soon.
"Well, I don't know about that."
She didn't sound unsure. Her face and body language gave nothing away. Timothy was getting really curious.
"You said you'd tell me about yourself."
"What would you like to know?"
He became thoughtful. What would he like to know? She was giving him an opportunity.
"Will you answer all of my questions?"
She shrugged. "Probably. You'll never know until you try."
"What's your full name?"
"Sapphire Vanity."
He paused as he was about to shoot off his next question immediately. "Vanity?? Isn't that the name of the university?"
She smiled. "Yup."
"Who are your parents? Are they...alive?" It wasn't what he wanted to ask but her weird name just made him curious. It's probably a coincidence that her name was the name of the university.
"They're dead," she simply said. "So there's no need to know much about them."
"Wow. I--I'm sorry." He felt bad for asking now. He really thought the answers he'd be giving would be... just not like this.
"Ask something else," she said, ignoring his apology. She didn't seem affected at all. It was either that or she was hiding how much it affected her.
"Um...do you have any other family members?"
She nodded. "Sure. That's why I'm able to live in this huge house and be in this big school. There're not much of them around here, but some are, they're cool people."
"Who are they?" Because whoever they were, they must have more than enough money.
"Can't just give up that info, sorry," she said, looking totally unapologetic. "I'd have to tell them about you first. You're cool, but they wouldn't know that, and they're cautious nowadays for a reason."
"What did Roxanne do?" he asked then. She didn't have to say anything she didn't want to. "What did her family do?"
That was when he instantly knew that her anger was not just surface level.
There was a long pause, a change of the air around them, and finally, a change of expression. She stiffened, hands clenched, expression dark as she responded in a cool voice;
"They killed my family."