Page 28

Annoth

When Ben closes the bathroom door to shower, I sit at the counter beside Theo, knowing this may be my best chance. His phone begins to ring, and I wait for him to finish speaking to his sister before I clear my throat and fold my hands in my lap, trying to appear serious, but not menacing.

“May I ask you something?”

He has food in his mouth and simply mutters, “Hmm?”

“Do you believe that…we could try to trust one another?” I ask, keeping my voice matter-of-fact. He swallows, then sets the burrito down.

“What do you mean?” He turns his beautiful, limpid blue eyes to me, and they flicker down to my lips for a moment.

“I know it may be difficult for you to believe, but…I am not the same as I was. Something is different. I do not know how to explain it, but I wish to show you how I have changed. Please.”

He watches me a moment longer, his brow furrowed. “Show me…how?”

“Let me meet your family,” I say quickly. “You may tell them anything you wish–that I do not speak their language, that I am Ben’s lover and not yours, anything. Just, allow me to show you that I am trustworthy. That I can behave…normally.”

He gives a soft laugh. “I don’t know that you’ll ever be able to act normal,” he says, “but…let me talk to Ben about it, alright? ”

“Thank you.” I smile and retract the elongated teeth I have been wearing in my human form. I have also fixed the ridges on my ears. When I see myself in the mirror now, I look painfully human, which does not bother me as much as I imagined it would.

When Ben has finished showering, he comes out to the living area wearing only a towel around his hips, and I cannot help but run my eyes over his body.

Although I felt it last night with my shadows, it is quite different to see it on display.

So many places I would like to sink my teeth into.

I can sense Theo watching him too, and resist the temptation to slither inside his mind and see exactly what sinful thoughts he is having about Ben.

They undoubtedly match my own, and I wonder how upset he would be if I tried to persuade him to act on those thoughts.

“Need something, Annie girl?” Ben asks with a smirk, and I unwillingly wrench my eyes away from his naked torso.

“Theo says that I may be allowed to meet his family at this children’s sporting event, but that he would like to consult with you first.”

Ben’s eyebrows shoot up, and he looks at Theo. “Did he now?”

“I did,” Theo sighs, tearing his eyes from Ben as well and glancing at me. “I guess…since she and I might be stuck like this longer than we thought, maybe it’s a good idea for her to learn how to behave. Especially if she really does want to change.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” Ben says with a shrug, “as long as you think you can be a good girl, Annie.” He winks at me, and my body burns with need.

“I can,” I assure them both, trying to fight off a smile.

Theo runs a hand over his face and sighs loudly. “Fine. She can be out, but what’s the cover story?”

“Hmmm,” Ben muses, coming to stand between us at the counter and unwrapping a burrito.

Every muscle in my body strains to reach out and touch him, to hook one of my shadows into the top of the towel and yank it off.

“Well, you said she met your friend on the street the day you two kidnapped me, and the cover story was that she’s an exchange student, right? ”

“Yeah, but I said that my parents are the ones hosting her.”

“Does this friend know your parents at all?”

“No, actually…she doesn’t. It would definitely be easier to just have one story to keep straight, wouldn’t it?”

“Definitely,” Ben says, then he takes a bite from the burrito and chews for a minute. “So we can just say that she’s a friend of mine from Europe, coming to check out the university for grad school. No need to make it complicated. What was the fake name you used before, Annie?”

“Annika. I heard it on the television.”

“What show?” Theo asks.

“Something about stars…like Star Wars , but–”

“ Star Trek ,” he laughs. “Must have been Voyager . Yeah, I know that character. It’s a perfect name for you, actually.”

“My God, you really are a nerd, aren’t you?” Ben teases, then he whips out his phone and types something in. “Annika is a Swedish, German, or Dutch name. Alright, I can work with that. Don’t worry, Annie, just pretend your English isn’t that good yet and you’re moving here to work on it, yeah?”

“Very well,” I say with a smile.

“Ok, and what’s your cover story,” Theo asks him. “I can’t tell my very Catholic parents…well, the truth.”

“Thou shalt not tell lies, Saint Theo,” says Ben in a playful tone.

“Oh, is that what we’re doing now? Quoting scripture? ‘Cause if so, I have a few notes for you.”

“You can give me a performance review on the way to the car, osito ,” Ben says, heading down the hall toward the office. “I’ll come up with something. Cover stories are my specialty.”

“Please don’t make me look up that word,” Theo calls after him.

“Teddy bear!” Ben laughs before closing the door. I watch Theo’s face morph into a broad smile and his cheeks redden slightly. He does seem lighter now, even after our confrontation this morning. Perhaps seeing Ros was beneficial.

Before Ben fell asleep the night before, he told me what he said to Theo, about caring for him and wanting to be around him.

He was uncertain if Theo felt the same way, but I have been able to see the truth since the day we brought Ben back to the apartment.

Theo’s face when he saw Ben and I on the couch this morning was not angry, it was hurt.

I may not be able to fully experience human emotions, but I can certainly read them.

Theo feels something for Ben, although I am not sure if he even knows what it is.

In this, Theo and I are the same. I had imagined I might wake up and be disgusted with myself for allowing a human so close, but all I felt this morning was a desperate desire for Theo to trust me, and a desperate desire to stay close to both of them.

When Ben emerges from the office, he is wearing jeans and a dark red button-up shirt under his leather jacket. Theo looks him up and down and swallows.

“Keeping the earring in?” he asks as we leave the apartment together and he pauses to lock the door.

“Oh, don’t worry so much,” Ben replies. “My poll numbers with white Catholic housewives are extremely high.”

“Hey, Bethany Keating is not, and has never been, a housewife,” Theo retorts.

Ben just laughs. “You should probably tell us a bit about your family, actually, so I know which of my many charming and delightful personalities to use.”

“Alright, yeah,” Theo sighs, walking behind Ben and me down the stairs.

“My dad, John, he’s the strong, silent type–worked for the State Department doing super classified stuff for a long time.

He’s a good guy, but he’s old school, very Catholic.

My grandparents brought him over here from Belfast in the 70s when he was little, after a car bomb went off on their street. ”

“Yikes,” says Ben, but I do not have time to ask what Theo is referring to before he continues.

“My mom grew up in San Francisco. Her parents were kind of…reformed hippies who owned a laundromat right near Haight-Ashbury. Mom and Dad won’t give me any details, but they met in their 20s when my mom was involved with a lot of social activism.

She converted so they could get married, but…

she’s still kinda hippie-dippy and would definitely body slam a cop, especially to protect her students.

She teaches math at the same middle school I went to. ”

Ben nods slowly. “Bit more interesting than I gave you credit for, osito ,” he says, linking his arm through mine as we start down the sidewalk outside. “What about your sister?”

“Molly. She’s a single mom, five kids. Tabby’s the oldest, almost twelve. Mol works for the state health department or something and teaches martial arts on the side. She’s utterly terrifying, and she’s also my best friend.”

“Got it,” Ben says, then begins asking Theo questions about his hometown.

I do not fully understand everything Theo has told us about his family, but I do know that I want to do the right thing.

The trouble is, I am not certain what the right thing is.

For this, I may need to rely on Ben, who looks at me and smiles every few minutes as we walk to where his vehicle is parked.

When we reach it, Theo stops and laughs out loud.

“You know, I think I finally realized why your car looks so familiar to me,” he says.

“Why’s that?” Ben asks, fishing in his jacket for the keys.

“It’s a Chevy Impala, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, 1967. It’s actually my brother’s, but he travels a lot, so he left it with me. What’s the deal?”

“You…you’ve never watched Supernatural , have you?” Theo asks. He slides into the passenger seat and I get into the back, then Ben turns the keys and the old car rumbles to life.

“Can’t say that I have,” he answers.

“Well…then I don’t really have any words to describe to you how funny and ironic this is,” Theo says. “Yet another show I’ll have to make you watch.”

“Sounds like my sentence has been extended,” Ben replies with a grin. Theo takes a few minutes to guide him in the right direction, then takes a deep breath and anxiously pushes his hair back.

“On a more serious note,” he mutters, “I…I need to ask you something.”

Ben looks over at him with a frown. “What’s that?”

“Well, I’ve told you…a lot of stuff over the past few weeks. Personal stuff. I just feel like, before I take you around my family, I need to know why you were…laicized.”

I tense up, but Ben actually laughs. “I’ve been living in your house for two weeks and you haven’t looked me up online?”

“I mean…” Theo stammers. “I did…look up your criminal record and the sex offender registry, but…”

“Do you really need to know?” Ben asks, his voice heavier than I have ever heard it.

“I just…maybe it’s…something you should tell me…”

“Look, it’s obviously not a topic I love talking about. Is it enough for me to tell you that I didn’t do anything illegal, I didn’t hurt anyone, and that it was more of a…forced resignation?”

Theo’s face is a battleground of wariness and stifled affection. “Fine,” he sighs at last. “I guess that’s enough.”

“Feel free to search my name if you don’t believe me,” Ben says tersely.

“I…I believe you,” Theo tells him. “I trust you.” I can tell that those words mean something to Ben, and I wonder what I must do to get Theo to trust me too. Gaining their trust is the only way I might be able to save them.

In all my centuries of existence, I have only ever been told that humanity is sinful–that even those who are not evil or corrupt are, at the very least, selfish, irresponsible, and arrogant.

I was taught that their flaws make them irredeemable, and this is why our towers are constantly teeming with damned souls.

I was taught that, for humans, Heaven is unattainable and Hell is inevitable, and that the Almighty designed it this way because it is no less than humanity deserves.

But…this has not been my experience. These two very human men have many flaws, but they are still kind, gentle, patient, and selfless.

The thought of Theo or Ben facing the horrific punishments of Hell, facing my brethren, fills me with immeasurable dread.

I do not know if there is anything I can do to spare them from this fate, but I know I must try.

But in order to do this, they must trust me. Both of them.