CHAPTER 31: UNWANTED GUESTS

Alastair’s pearl eyes grew into a dark haze, and they narrowed with a glint of dangerous aura pouring out of him.

"I’ll be back. Stay here," He instructed without question and placed her comfortably on the couch. He made her lay down, then stared at her small figure.

"I want to come with you," She said to him in a low voice, pleading with her eyes. After what happened to her at the hollow, she was much more aware now and was scared something might happen to him.

He saw the plea and innocence radiating from her eyes, even though he couldn’t decipher the meaning of that look or any look she’d given him. All he knew was that they all meant something deep.

"Close your eyes and count from one to a hundred," He suggested, cupping her soft cheeks.

She wanted to tell him she was afraid, but then again, maybe he was strong enough to protect himself. He’s never seemed ordinary in her eyes, from the very first time she set her eyes on him, "Promise me," She grabbed his arm.

Alastair shook his head, "I don’t do promises," As usual, his eyes were empty.

Then, he turned around and walked out of the door. Her thoughts were occupied with him alone, and she was beginning to ask herself if that was a good thing. It doesn’t seem right to feel this strongly for someone and not even know what it is when the other person obviously feels nothing.

Her eyes wandered to the door again, and she pouted sadly. Maybe she’s only feeling this way because they’ve been together all day, and it’s been the very best day of her life! It made her heart race, and her body feel warm and relaxed. Aaliyah never thought she could feel this way around the same man who could shake the ground with every step and glare her eyes out!

Then, her ears picked up noise coming from outside. They were hushed and rushed, but then there was a light scream...and then a snarl!

She forced herself to a sitting position, having thoughts of whether Alastair had run into something dangerous when something fell from the pocket of her dress and knocked into the marble tiles.

Looking down, Aaliyah saw that it was the glowing rock from the last time. And just like before, she did not remember putting it into the pocket of this dress, and neither did Alastair.

Aaliyah picked it up from the floor and took another long stare at the object. She had concluded it couldn’t be ordinary, owning to how it had weakened Yuan the other day...and how they had both magically appeared in another city after she brought it out of her dress.

Not wanting to find herself somewhere else again, she quickly shoved it back into her dress.

Still worried about Alastair, she tried to stand up but her feet burned and she fell to the ground with a thump. Everywhere was aching down, and she was just too weak to try and stand up again so she decided crawling wasn’t such a bad idea.

The snarling noise could no longer be heard, which only made her more worried. What if it was done attacking Alastair and had killed him? She crawled even faster, alarmed by her thoughts and ignoring the tearing pain spreading through her body.

Just as she was almost at the door, the doorknob turned and she looked up to see Alastair standing behind the opened door. He looked fine, and she felt so relieved.

"Alastair!" She sniffed, pouting.

"Yes, little Siren?" He answered and stood in front of her. Heavens knew how hard he was trying to understand why the hell the woman he had asked to wait for him and count to a hundred, the same one badly injured and shouldn’t be moving on her own, was doing with her hands and knees on the floor and a big smile on her face.

Her eyes were twinkling this time.

He squatted and came to almost the same eye level as her, "Little Siren?"

"Hm?" She raised her eyebrow in question.

"Did you finish counting to a hundred?"

"I’m not very good at counting," She confessed with an awkward smile.

"Why did you get up?"

"There...was a spider...,"

He pinched her chin hard, "How many legs does a spider have?"

"10! 8! About six to ten!" She boasted confidently with a smile, then the smile vanished again, "It has a lot of legs. I’ve never bothered to count them,"

"Why did you get up?"

She sighed, "I was worried about you,"

"I can take care of myself,"

Ever since he walked in, she’s been perceiving a mild scent of blood from him but she couldn’t see any wound on him. Also, his hands were a little wet with water meaning he washed them before returning inside.

"Why did you go outside?"

He didn’t hesitate, "We had unwanted guests and I welcomed them outside,"

"Could these unwanted guests...," She looked at him through her lashes, "Have something to do with the ones that were hiding in the bushes the other day?"

He was stunned for a second, and then it disappeared.

He scooped her up and took her back to the couch, "What else do you know?"

Aaliyah didn’t want to tell him about the city they had been to, and what Yuan had told her about it being dangerous for them...or the fact that ever since she survived the hollow, she could see, feel, taste, and hear Better. Her senses were growing more and more sensitive and she didn’t know if that was a normal thing.

"Have you ever thought to yourself that...," She paused to gauge his expression from her next words, knowing darn well that it had so much to do with them, "Just Maybe...," She drawled, "Humans aren’t the only beings that exist in this world?"

He was quiet for a minute, and the silence was so loud between them.

"Aaliyah," He called.

She swallowed. Did she hit a nerve?

His next sentence had her wishing she hadn’t mentioned anything, making her unable to breathe, "You can see the Maqbath," He stated, his eyes piercing and demanding, "And I wasn’t asking," He deadpanned!