Remnant Of The Gods

Chapter 27

"So why have you come back?" he continued on in his soft tone, as if he was coaxing an animal from a cage. "Why did you leave in the first place?"

My mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish as I tried to form an answer. Looking down at my hands Demetrious caught my eye as his muscles were taunt and ready to spring.

He asks too many questions. He growled warningly low at Ander who looked between us with a little more suspicion.

"I wanted to find my parents," The works came out of my mouth before I could stop them, "there was a lead that I discovered shortly before the fire at the foster home and I wanted to pursue it." To me, it seemed like a fair answer, enough truth to hold off any following questions but I saw the cogs turning in Ander's head. He wasn't going to give up easily.

"That answers why you left but not why you came back." He probed.

"Isn't it obvious?" I stated calmly, staring down at Ander with the borrowed confidence from Demetrious by my side. "The search was fruitless and now that I am of legal age, I can return without dealing with any foster homes or..."

"Except for the fact that you might have been declared dead." He frowned at me.

"Yes, except that." I frowned back. "But I don't see how that matters, I am back and that is the end of it. I have no idea why you came here but I think you need to leave."

It was now Ander's turn to open and close his mouth like a fish as he scrambled to keep the conversation going. I rose and headed towards the door. He sat in the chair, staring at the floor as if contemplating something.

"There was no record of a dog." he said quietly. My hand that was reaching for the door handle dropped as my heart began to race.

"A stray, I found him not long after the fire" I tried to keep up a strong appearance but my gaze kept darting to Demetrious who had his eyes trained on the intruder and hadn't moved to follow me.

"So a young girl, barely eighteen, managed to make her way nearly thousands of kilometers across a desert with sightings in a state three days travel away and not to mention without being seen with a dog as distinctive as that and without any record of boarding a plane?"

And with that, Demetrious rose.

"I hardly made it that far," I scoffed, barely holding in my panic and trudging my way back into the living room.

"Strange, your clothing was found three months ago at a cabin about 6000 miles away and back to here. Your death was suspected when the police received articles of your clothing that were torn and bloody but could not be confirmed without a body." Ander said matter-of-factly.

"Again," I ground out, "Why do you care? Are you threatening me, is that it?" His persistence had only cornered me making me lash out in anger but by this point I was beyond angry, my own feelings mixing with Demetrious' as the smoke started to rise from his body.

"You don't remember me do you?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Of course I do!" I snapped at him, "I already said where I remember you from!"

Demetrious rose as his glamour began to disappear from his anger, his coat rising, swirling in mid-air he began to look like the hellhound he truly was. The wind outside picked up and a few drops of rain slipped in through the crack in the window.

"Before that," Ander continued, "why don't you remember me?" he pleaded. "Before this, before I saw you at the home. It almost killed me to leave you Alexis."

I do not like this.

By now I was on high alert, Ander could have found my name from the records he found while looking for me. What puzzled me was the friendliness in his voice and the tone of familiarity in which he said my name, striking a cord deep within my memories.

Ander laughed, "You really don't remember do you? I have to admit, with all the years that have gone by I could have picked you out of a crowd of a thousand people." He gazed at me again, catching him in the corner of my eye though I was still trying to think of where else we would have met.

"I'm sorry?" My apology came out as a question as I tried to be humble about his interest in me, there was nothing about me to stand out in a crowd.

"No problem, while you think about it do you mind if I stayed the night?" My neck throbbed at the swift movement of my head as I shook my head no.

When I realised he hadn't seen my reply, my hand raised trying to grab his attention. Following his gaze to the window, the clear picture of the falling of rain was now quite heavy. Ander began to take off his shoes and I grabbed his arm.

"I said no, you aren't welcome here - I have no idea just who the hell you are."

Release the man.

My hand fell from Ander's arm and I walked back to Demetrious, placing a hand on his back, I tried to calm him and leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Calm down, your coat is changing. You have to control yourself."

More loudly so Ander could hear I said, "I'll call the police."

"Oh? The dead girl who has come back to life is now going to involve the police? Weren't those the people who you have been dodging for the last 6 months?" He pointed out. "I'll head to the spare room, we can talk more in the morning."

Stunned, I was rooted to the spot. What the hell just happened?

I must see to something, I will leave when this intruder is sleeping and will return before morning. Do not kill yourself in my absence. Stay here until I return.

Nodding at Demetrious I went to collect blankets for the new visitor who had re-appeared and smiled at me. I still felt a sense of familiarity but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"You do realise I still haven't a clue who you are." I sighed, tired from my travelling and having to absorb all that I had in the past few... months.

"If you can't remember by morning I promise to tell you, though I much prefer you to keep guessing." His eyes shone with humour as he smiled at me.

Gnashing my teeth I threw the blankets at him and he returned to the spare room. Breathing a sigh of relief I then started to make myself at home on the couch. Since Mary's death my bedroom seemed such a foreign place. Propping my head up on the pillows I laid down taking deep breaths to calm myself while I tried to place where Ander could be from.