Lycan Blood (Alex Vane: Demon Stalker #1)

Visitor

I’m not sure how long I would have slept in but I certainly wasn’t planning to get up as early as I did. Unfortunately the doorbell buzzed about 2 o’clock, forcing me out of my comfy bed and into my dreary hall.

“Hello?” I muttered sleepily, wondering who it could possibly be. Not even Jacey ever came to my house, mainly because I made it perfectly clear she would never be allowed in. I didn’t mind living in absolute mess but I didn’t particularly want anyone else to see just how far gone it was up here.

“Alex? Is that you?” Oh god. At the sound of Scott’s voice, everything came back to me. I guess I should have expected his visit but I never thought he’d actually come over to my apartment. How did he even know where I lived?

“Er, just a minute!” Crap. I stared frantically round the room, taking in the empty boxes of food and the dirty plates I’d just abandoned. Frankly it was beyond help. Deciding that the most pressing matter was to get dressed, I left the mess where it was and quickly threw on the cleanest clothes I could find. There was actually an ominous stain on the hoodie but that couldn’t be helped. I quickly tackled the bird’s nest on my head with a hairbrush before finally pressing the buzzer again.

“Come right up!” For the first time in a while, I found myself panicking about how I looked. It made no sense of course-Scott had seen me last night and that had definitely not been a pretty picture. Still, all the usual untidiness that I barely even noticed suddenly seemed to stick out like a neon sign. Did I really always look so messy? It didn’t seem possible.

By the time I heard the knock on the door I was reduced to a bag of nerves. I opened it almost guiltily, afraid to see his expression when he saw the dump inside.

“Hi.” He smiled, looking like someone who had been awake for hours. How could he do that? He’d been up just as late as I had.

“Hi.” I coughed, confused by the anxiety I was feeling. Why should I be nervous? I thought it didn’t matter to me what people thought. Scott was different though. I felt this pathetic need to impress him, as if just because he was like me it was important we get along. It was ridiculous of course. I was still convinced that no good could come of forming anything even remotely like a friendship. The last thing I needed in my life was a boy-shaped distraction.

As predicted, his face fell slightly when he saw the inside of the room properly. To his credit though he did his best to ignore it, walking over to the couch and delicately taking a seat.

“Nice place.” The compliment fell flat. Realising how dark it was, I quickly opened one of the few curtains. The sunlight only seemed to make things worse.

“Sorry, I didn’t have time to clean up. Not that I knew you were coming. How do you know where I live exactly? It seems like you really are stalking me.” It was his turn to look embarrassed. Despite everything, I couldn’t help smirking at his blush.

“Well, I kind of followed you home one day last week. Not in a creepy way! Erm, when I thought you were the werewolf. You know, just in case.” He said it so matter-of-fact-ly that it made me wonder if I should have followed him home. Admittedly it might have been useful to try and find out where the suspected werewolf lived. All of a sudden I felt panicked, almost inferior. It was not a feeling I enjoyed.

“Of course,” I nodded, acting like I had done the same, “Well, you still could have warned me you were coming over. I was still asleep.”

“Oh, sorry! I assumed you’d be up by this time.” There was that smirk again. It made me feel uncomfortable, like he was being too familiar. I wasn’t really used to people being so nice to me (except for Jacey and now Jenna of course). Especially not people I’d tried to kill less than twenty four hours ago.