Unknown Factors (Book One)

Ch.70: You sound like him

  Sighing, I strolled through the park barefoot, letting the sun warm my skin as the grass was soft beneath my feet. My hands were shoved into my jacket pockets until my phone started ringing. Without even looking at who it was, I pulled it out, broke it in half, and then tossed it over my shoulder.

  Whistling, I laced my fingers behind my head and continued my pleasant walk in the bright sun.

~

  "Yo, Anya, still willing to let me work?" I bounced into the Magic Box, still barefoot since I had lost my shoes in the park. She froze where she was and looked uncertain of something.

  "You aren't....You aren't mad at me?"

  "For what?" I chuckled, dropping my jacket onto the back of a chair.

  "....The 'thing'....with-"

  "No, don't be silly!" I shrugged. "I had already stopped my thing with Spike, and we weren't even dating to begin with, so it wasn't like he cheated on me. But let's not talk about that- How's your day been? Have a good breakfast? Lunch?"

  "....Aud, I don't think I understand why you're acting so....chipper. I saw how you-"

  "How could I not be chipper? I smell like the sun instead of disgusting grease for once in a long while, and to top it off, I've almost no more secrets with my friends." I laughed while pointing. "So, boss, what's the agenda for toda-" I was cut off as she hugged me.

  "Aud, I'm so sorry." She whispered, hugging me tighter. "I didn't know you loved him, I didn't know you were the girl he was talking about, I didn't know. Gods, I didn't know. This is your first love and your first heartbreak, so I do know your pain. For a thousand years, I was at the beck and call of countless heartbroken women, so I know. Stop pretending. You don't have to fake it with me, I understand love and heartbreak better than any of them- It's part of my job." Anya spoke so softly and held me so tightly, and the dam broke.

  I fell to my knees, wailing in anguish from the pain and the hole in my chest. Anya continued to hold me even after I burst into flames. Not that it would have bothered her, being a Vengeance demon again kind of gave her a resistance to this low-level fire of sorrow. I clung to her like a child as I sobbed. This amount of confusion and hurt was unknown to me until now- I had no tolerance to it. I had only found out too late how I felt about that blond vampire, but it didn't even matter because I knew I couldn't be with a person like him.

  Sure, he could be gentle and kind, but he was still soulless and evil, and the bad that he does made anything with him impossible. Anya began to shake in my arms, crying as well because of her own pain. We both lost our focus to keep our human forms, but it was okay....neither of us was human. Anya wouldn't judge me on how I truly looked with my patches of pitch-black skin, fiery hair, daunting claws, or even my tail and paws. Baring my fangs as my steaming tears began to drip like tar down my cheeks, I just let out all of my frustrations through crying.

  We just stayed there a while, providing one another a sense of understanding no one else could give. However, after the tears finally ended, Anya eventually went back to work, and I went to the room in the back to lay on the concrete floor. My hair was still in flames, but I didn't care as I stared at the wall.

  All I had to do now was think- Anya had said it was best to be on my own to figure out what all was going on with me. How I felt about everything, what I was going to do next. So I laid there in my full demonic form and slowly blinked while staring at the little holes and lines in the brick wall even as night came.

  "Go away." My voice was quiet in the dark as I heard the back door open and smelt who came in.

  "We have to talk."