The First Age

Ana took her to her own room. Christian was dressed in his usual wear and was leaving, looking concerned as Ana waved him away. Elyse fell to the floor just inside the door. Ana sat down on the floor and pulled the girl into her arms. "Men don't think with the right head, honey."

Ana held her close "Tell me what I can do to help."

Dorian came into the kitchen and said something, he thought he asked what had happened. Get caught? Nox turned to look at Dorian. Nox whispered, "Get caught? I didn't fucking mean to sleep with him..."
I put my head down on my arms. "HIM I fucking slept with him. I know I fucked up with Elyse. I told her I would try. I knew I'd fuck up, Dorian. I warned her, tried to make her understand I'm not that kinda guy. I liked her. More than most girls. But this."
Nox waved his hand around to indicate this mess. "This I knew would happen eventually."


Dorian chuckled. "So you are in this state be cause you slept with a guy?"


Nox shook his head. "No, I could deal with that. I got drunk, I do stupid shit when I'm drunk. That's par for course."


"Then what's the problem?"


Nox sighed and sat up and looked at Dorian, he was sitting next to him on another bar stool. Nox felt the blood leaving his body, he felt cold. He whispered,"It wasn't the first time."


Nox got up and started pacing. "After the plane crash I was a blank state. I didn't know who I was. When Aria helped me get my memories back I thought they'd all come back. I was wrong."
Nox sighed. "My father was disappointed in me, after the last concert I went to, I slept with a guy. I was in love, Dorian."
Nox sat down on the floor and leaned against the bar. "My dad saw the hickey on my neck. He was drunk. He gave me a lashing I'd never forget. Not to mention that parts I did remember, the shaving my head because of hair color. I suppressed my feelings. He took me to the next hooker he could find and insured that I was straight."
What kinda fucked up father does that to their son. "I buried the memories, and now, since being here, they've been coming back, last night - everything came back. It was all so familiar - the basement apartment. The smells, the drinking, the cute guy sitting next to me."


Nox banged his head against the wall. "I now I fucked up Dorian. Have Christian move my things from room to the basement. I'll give her space, till she can talk to me. So I can at least tell her I'm sorry."


Dorian sighed. "Ana told me to take care of this. I don't know what she expected me to do, but I guess moving you out is a start. Nox, that's not all I need to talk to you about."


Nox didn't need any prompting, he told Dorian the full story about what had happened, from the tickets, to the monster, to killing it and the girl and everything else in between. He finished, "I won't out Jay, but I'll turn myself in. I won't leave this on you to clean up. But I need a shower."


Dorian nodded. "I'll give you an hour then I'll bring you in."
Nox nodded and headed for the basement. Dorian added. "Christian will move your things into the basement."



Edited by Nox, Apr 25 2017, 06:10 PM.

Elyse buried her head into Ana's shoulder and cried. First mom and then Nox. Why was everyone abandoning her?

"Please don't abandon me..."
Elyse said between sobs.

"I'm not going anywhere sweetheart." came Ana's reply.

Elyse pulled away and wiped her eyes, standing up to wash her face before sitting down. "Mom left me...and now him...It's been hard since this happened."
she pointed at her eyes. "I've been so alone...and I finally open up to someone..."


She stopped, guilt twinging her voice. "I wanted to kill him Ana. Not Nox - the other one. The wolf has never been that strong before. I was terrified. Terrified of losing control..."
Elyse buried her head in her hands as she sobbed again. She knew she had to do it.

"Please have Christian pack my things...
She said between the sobs.

"Where are you going? You can't leave."

Elyse looked up, meeting Ana's eyes. "I have to. Not permanently - but right now I'm a danger - to myself and everyone here. I promise, I'll keep in touch and I'll come back - at least if Dorian will let me after this. Ana - you've been like a mother to me...I just can't stay right now. I have a friend who I can stay with.

Continued at: The resident wizard

Ana nodded. "Darling, Dorian has no say in this matter. If anyone is to be kicked out it's that boy." Though Ana wouldn't do that either, his one purpose in this house was to protect her son, and Cruz came above all else, and that included the girl in her arms. But she didn't say it. Cruz was her boy - her baby and if the cheat needed to stay to keep him safe, then he'd stay... He'd just stay far away from Elyse.

"I'll go find Christian and have him start taking care of your things."

Ana didn't find Christian. She did look, but instead opted to pack Elyse's things herself. How hard could it be? But she wanted to send a message to the boy too.

Ana opened their shared room and saw it was much like Dorian had arranged it or had been arranged prior to his arrival. The suite was still perfect, and the bedroom was not much different. Other than the lone bag on the floor there was nothing out of place, except the rumbled bed. Neither of the two Atharim guests had even bothered to unpack. What kind of life did they lead? Ana checked the closets and found a few of Elyse's things hanging. She packed them easily into the bag Elyse had brought. The drawers were much the same but she'd found nothing of Nox's anywhere.

A throat cleared and Ana jumped. She turned and looked and saw Christian. She gave him a smile. "Did he run away already?"

Christian laughed, "You can't throw his things in the hall. He asked them to be moved to the basement to leave Elyse as much space as possible." Christian moved to Ana and wrapped his arms around her.

"How could he do that?"

Christian asked. "Cheat on her? Or sleep with a man? Because you know the answer to both."

Ana sighed and pulled away from her lover and smiled up at him. "Dorian is a bad influence."

"It had nothing to do with Dorian, Ana. I only caught the last bit of his story, but he's kept it suppressed for his father's approval. He's lived a lie his whole life. At least Dorian has never lied to you when it truly mattered."

Ana frowned, "He's lied enough, Christian."

He nodded. "He has. I will take Elyse's things downstairs. Tell her a car is waiting to take her where ever she wants to go. And that the house is always welcome to her. Dorian's words. Nox will keep his promise of keeping her safe but he can't do that if she leaves."

"She won't ever trust him again."

Christian nodded. "I think she'll trust him in that. Or she will eventually."

Christian took the back from her and Ana went back to her own room to tel Elyse. "Everything is ready. Christian has a car ready for you. Sweetheart, you will come back. No one, and I mean it, no one wants you to leave."

After Ana left, Elyse washed her face again, despite feeling the tears building up again. She felt terrible for not being able to stop crying, but that's how it was. When Ana left, Elyse pulled out her wallet and sent Sierra a message.

Quote:<dl>
<dt>Outgoing Message to Sierra</dt>
<dd> </dd>
</dl>
Sierra,

I need a place to stay...now.

She hoped the message didn't come off as harsh, but Sierra had offered her help and Elyse had said she would take her up on it. Elyse sat in the quiet room, focusing on her breath and trying to remain calm. She didn't want to leave. She felt at home here, but she had to to keep them safe.

Ana came back and told her a car was waiting. "Thank you for understanding."
Elyse wrapped Ana in a tight hug. Elyse found herself not being able to let go for awhile. "I promise I'll come back when I'm safe again."


Even after she finished speaking, Elyse couldn't let go. Finally she separated herself, when she felt the tears coming again. "Good bye for now, Ana.
She said.

Quote:<dl>
<dt>Reply</dt>
<dd> </dd>
</dl>
sure thing.
-Attached: address/coordinates

The showers in the basement were more like a gym style, open air, no curtain, two of them. It was what Dorian's predecessors had set up. Down here must have been a gym or something a little more kinky but Nox didn't think that people like Dorian did that in their basement out in the open anyway - pretenses anyway...

The door to Christian's room was still closed when he went into the showers and started the hot water. But he felt someone in the entrance as he turned off the water. Nox didn't bother turning around. "Enjoy the show?"


Sage chuckled. "Both of them."


Nox turned around and saw the grin on Sage's face as he wrapped the towel around his midsection then walked past the hacker. "Glad to be of service."


Sage stuck his arm out in front of Nox barring his passage through the door. Nox didn't look over at his friend. He'd just slept with a guy in the adjacent room. Sage had listened to it. It wasn't embarrassing in the sense that Nox cared one way or the other, but that it was with a guy. Sage leaned in and took a deep breath and then whispered in Nox's ear. "I think I like it when you are being shy."


Nox turned and looked at Sage. Their lips were milimeters apart and Sage was grinning. "I'm not shy, Sage. I'm confused."


He licked his lips, the tip of his tongue brushing Nox's bottom lip. "I can help straighten that out for you."


Nox smiled at the hacker. "One thing at a time, Sage. I have two messes to clean up. Both of which can end badly. Another time?"


Sage nodded. "I will hold you to that."
Sage took Nox's hand and placed something in it. "Just make sure you give it back to me."


Sage turned and went back into Christian's room and shut the door. Nox heard him sigh with relief. Nox opened his hand and saw Sage's wireless port thing and frowned. Not only had he listened, he's snuck into the room, stole the device and presumable watched. Fuck!

But Nox didn't have time to deal with that right now. Elyse then Dorian... Elyse then Dorian. He had a plan at least. Nox got dressed and headed upstairs he was about to round the stairs to go up to the second floor and find his soon to be ex-girlfriend. But she was coming down the stairs.

The moment Ana hit the landing, she took one step forward and swung. Her hand landed squarely against his jaw and Nox couldn't help the reaction to reach for the new mark and his now tender jaw. Normally he'd have grinned, but he deserved it and kept a straight face. "Elyse, can I talk to you?"
He didn't think she would, and what he had to say could be said here as well as privately but he'd prefer in private.


Edited by Nox, Apr 26 2017, 11:43 AM.

Elyse went down the stairs with Ana. Nox seemed to be coming up the stairs at the same time. Thankfully he had showered. If Elyse had smelled the other man, she might have lost control again. She felt pain and anger at seeing him again.

Ana hit him hard. Elyse didn't say anything. Nox had deserved it. She couldn't hit him herself for fear that she would lose control. Nox asked to talk to her and she wanted to say no, but she hesitated. She would hear him out, but he couldn't talk his way out of it.

Elyse nodded and Ana turned to protest. "It's okay Ana. Please wait here for me."
Elyse said and she walked past Nox into a side room.

Elyse leaned on a table, not looking towards Nox. She could smell him as he entered. Still she faced the other way, worried that the beast within would awaken again.

Nox's first instinct when Elyse had agreed to talk to him was to say 'I told you so." but he didn't. He stood staring at her for a long moment. He realized that the only thing he regretted about everything was that he wouldn't be sleeping with Elyse anymore. And it wasn't the sex he would miss most - just the fact that someone laid next to him.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. And definitely not like this."
He knew there was no amount of apologies that would fix it. And he didn't really want it to fix anything. He was kinda relieved he didn't have to play at being a boyfriend. He didn't like it. He hated watching his every move. Hated being tied to someone who would get hurt if he did something stupid. But that didn't mean he didn't care about Elyse. "I promised you one thing, and I intend to keep that promise, Elyse. I won't let the Atharim hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you. And I realize saying that I'm a hypocrite. But I'm an asshole, and I would have protected you from me but I was selfish."
He grinned. "I'm a selfish asshole. I'm sure I could think up a few other choice words too. "