Time After Time

Chapter 10

The next morning, Lexi awakes early thankfully, as Dante is still asleep next to her. Shaking him gently awake, she tells him, "You have to go before my mom wakes up, I have to get ready for school."
He grabs her around the waist, pulling her to him. " Are you just trying to get rid of me? I freaked you out to much last night?"
His words are teasing, but she can hear the tinge of worry underneath.
Kissing him squarely on his mouth, Lexi replies back lightly " You wish you could get rid of me so easily. I just don't want my mom to murder us both."
Groaning, he climbs out of bed and heads to the window, her following close behind. He grabs her and pulls her in for one last kiss, before jumping out the window. Peeking her head out the window, she sees him change into a hawk mid jump. Shaking her head, she head to the bathroom to shower and get ready for school.

While in the shower, Lexi finally lets her thoughts roam to everything that happened last night. She can admit to herself now that when Dante started cutting himself and her with the knife and talking about blood connections, she was more than a little freaked out. Once they actually started exchanging blood with each other though, all that was lost. It was beautiful actually, to be so closely connected to his mind and he to hers. A sense of euphoria came with it, almost like a high. It was a feeling like she had never felt, that he trusted her enough to show her those secrets about himself. She did detect that he had a part of himself closed off though. A part he didn't want her to see. It didn't bother her too much though, everyone is entitled to their privacy. It is no different than when she telepathically told him to stay out of her thoughts about Erik. Turning my mind back to the story Dante shared, she begins trying to processing it. That is why Erik and Dante came here, they detected her powers and they have been searching almost 150 years for their third piece to complete their triad, so the curse doesn't take their immortality and kill them. A pang shoots through her chest at the thought of either one of them dying. From Dante's thoughts, Lexi knows that both he and Erik are certain she is the one. No pressure there huh?

As much as she doesn't want either of them to die, she also is not certain she wants to drink the water they have, give up her human life and live eternally with the both of them. Considering the way she feel torn about her feelings for them, that could be a miserable eternity. It clearly didn't work out for Kalista the first time. She is only 17 years old, 18 in a few months. Does she really want to give up her whole life, what if she wants to have kids one day? Get married, have grandkids? Of course, there would be pluses to it. She could have powers, be stronger and faster. From Dante's story, both he and Erik had to give up a power each to the witch, but since Kalista is long gone, maybe she won't have too. She isn't around to take her soul either, which is a huge bonus, Lexi wouldn't really even consider it, if that was part of the deal. Smiling to herself, she should have known the hawk she kept seeing was Dante. Turning the shower off, she puts it out of her mind for now, trying to focus on getting ready.

About an hour later when she pull up to the school, Lexi sees Erik waiting for her in the parking lot. She head over to him, smiling as she approaches.
He returns her smile, but it looks forced.
"Long night?" He asks.
She freezes, wondering why he is asking.
"What do you mean?"
" Well, Dante didn't come home last night, so I went looking for him this morning, I saw you two kiss and him jump out your window. I also saw him transform right in front of you, so I guess it is all out on the open now huh?"
She look around quickly, not wanting anyone to over hear. Seeing Emma and Cass heading our way, she shifts her glance back to Erik, pleading " I will explain everything. Just let me get rid of them. We will talk."
He nods, his jaw tight.
As Emma and Cass approach, Lexi steps forward to meet them. Before they can say anything, she tells them " Erik and I are going to skip a few classes today, we have some things to talk about. I"ll catch up with both of you later."
Emma opens her mouth, about to protest and complain that they haven't talked all weekend, but Cass grabs her hand and squeezes it. She gives Lexi a small nod and turns back towards the school. Emma, looking pouty, follows behind her. Turning back to Erik and gesturing towards the park they hung out at before, head in that direction. As they enter the tree line, Lexi can feel the sense an icy fury coming from behind them. Turning to look, she sees Jade staring at them and between her facial expressions and the emotions shooting our way, Lexi actually shivers. It is strange, because last time she tried to pick up on Jade's mood, she couldn't get a read.
Erik notices and looking back, he says "I thought she might become upset."
Lexi turns to him, waiting for him to explain.
He continues on "At first, she was so nice, I thought she just wanted to be friends. I could pick up that she didn't like you, but it just is jealousy. So I ignored it. She spent lunch with me everyday and we talked. Eventually I came to realize she was interested in much more, so we had a talk before the dance about just being friends, she didn't seem to like it so I began avoiding her, but clearly I hurt her feelings without really meaning to."
She shrugs, and not wanting to talk about Jade, dismissively waves her hand and says" She will get over it. She hates me, so that doesn't help. Come on." Leading him to the picnic table they sat at before, they sit down. Struggling to decide where to begin, she is silent. He sits with her, staring off into the distance, before he says " Okay, so tell me why Dante was crawling out your window this morning."
Seeing he is ready to get straight to the point, she fills him in on everything, starting from when she showed up at his house on Saturday. Explaining how from the moment Dante opened the door, she felt like she knew him, how Dante showed her how to focus and shield properly. Even though she is sure he doesn't want to hear it, she even tells him about the visions and how Dante and her seem to already know he other. He looks at her, incredulously at this point, but doesn't say anything. Lexi hesitates, not exactly sure she wants to tell him about the blood connection. It just feels so personal, somehow.
Erik looks at her steadily and asks " What all did Dante tell you?"
She understands that he is asking if she knows that he and Dante are immortal, about the spell, and about what they need from her. Sighing, she look back at him directly "Everything, at least I think so."
Chuckling, he mumbles " I doubt that."
Feeling frustrated, because he can't read her mind and she has to explain it all, Lexi is short in her response " Kalista, you and Dante, the spring, the triad, me. Is that everything?"
His eyes widening, he nods. He didn't expect Dante to be honest with her." What do you think?" He asks.
" I think it is a lot to process, and I definitely have to think about it. I think I am in no way sure that I am ready to give up my life and join you and Dante in a magic triad forever."
Looking down, he asks "What about Dante and I?"
Squeezing his hand gently, she replies " I really like you, and had I not laid eyes on Dante, I think we would have been great together. I have no idea how to explain what is happening between us, or why we seem to have this connection with the visions, but I can't deny how I feel. But, I care about you, Erik."
Closing his eyes, he returns her squeeze, before letting go of her hand and walking away. She doesn't follow him, giving him space to himself right now.

As soon as he is out of Lexi's sight and in the cover of the trees, Erik uses his increased speed to try to burn out some of what he is feeling. Blazing through the trees in the forest, he skids to a stop. Punching an oak that has to be about 12 inches around, it shatters and crumbles to the ground, the pieces raining down on him. His breath heaving, he tries to calm his emotions. He knew better than to let his emotions get involved when it came to Lexi. But the irony of history repeating itself is not lost on him. His brother, himself and the girl they both love. Only this time, they know the stakes, and Dante doesn't even care. He just moved ahead with what he wanted. Feeling his anger rise again, he ponders how his brother could be so selfish. He shouldn't be surprised, Dante has always been this way. His mind turns to what Lexi said about the visions. It doesn't make any sense, Dante can't compel people, so he can't be creating the visions for his own benefit. There must be something going on there. Sighing, he realizes he will have to go talk to Dante about it, which is the last thing he wants to do. Turning back, the desire for increased speed gone, he slowly makes his way back home.

When he walk in the front door about an hour later, he can hear Dante in the kitchen singing, music blaring. Walking in to see him making eggs, lost in his own happiness, it appears. Rolling his eyes, Erik turns off the music. Dante stops and turns to me " Yes, brother?"
Not having the patience for his games, Erik states simply. " I talked to Lexi."
A look of what appears to be guilt flashes across Dante's face, for just a second, before he recovers, raising his eyebrow and inquiring cockily "And?"
"Dante, I am really not in the mood. Tell me about the visions." He crosses his arms, impatient.
Dante's cocky attitude falters and he appears to be struggling for the words. They have never had the best communication, but the expression on Dante's face tells Erik that he is genuinely at a loss.
Finally, Dante begins " I don't know how to explain them. From the moment I laid eyes on her, she was familiar to me, somehow. Like I already knew her, even though that's impossible. I am drawn to her and not just because of her power. The more time we spent together, the more the visions kept happening." Pausing, he looks directly into Erik's eyes, his tone earnest "But it isn't like a vision, exactly, I don't see them like a bystander. I see them from my own eyes, like a memory. They are memories."
Regarding him silently, Erik says softly " They can't be memories, you just met her."
" I know that!" He thumps the counter for emphasis "But I am telling you that's what they feel like. Memories of things that have happened before. Like our lives together are repeating themselves, just slightly different."
Visibly flinching at his use of the term together, in regards to the two of them, Erik shakes his head " I just don't see how that can be."
Dante looks him squarely in the eye and says
" Me either. But I think I am in love with her, Erik."
Rubbing his hands over his face, Erik starts to say " Me too." But stops himself.
It doesn't matter how he feels, he hasn't seen Dante like this in a long time, and Erik will not let the past repeat itself. There is too much at stake. Pacing back and forth, resisting the urge to knock Dante out, he can't believe this is happening again. When he looks over at Dante, his eyes meet his and Erik knows they are thinking the same thing.

Storming out of the kitchen, Eriks heads back to the library, determined to put this out of his mind for now and try to figure out what it going on, between Lexi and Dante.