"Hidden"

A week had passed and John was released from the hospital. He was still a little beat up and Alex thought this was the perfect time to play doctor. She decided that John would be safer at her house where she could watch him closely, and keep him safe. She never showed anyone where she lived before, especially anyone that wasn’t already dead (vampire wise that is).

It was a clear cool night outside so Alex went out to clear her mind. She had a lot going on right now and she didn’t know how to handle it. She swooped from the roof over to John’s window. He was sleeping peacefully. He always looked that way when he slept, until he’d mumble something about Damian. He probably was going to need therapy after dealing with her. But how is someone going to help him when he tells the he was attacked by a vampire because he was with his ex-girlfriend, who was also a vampire, along with her twin brother? Alex smiled at the thought of John being hauled away to a loony bin for telling the truth. Mental institutions usually scared her, but this time it was kind of funny. She imagined John looking like the Riddler at the end of Batman Forever, rocking back and forth saying “Vampires do exist! My girlfriend and her brother are vampires. They have fangs and drink blood through crazy straws!”She laughed again. John stirred in his sleep. Alex listened closely. He was quiet. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued to watch him. Her heart belonged to him now, whether she liked it or not. Realizing this, questions swam through her mind. Is this the right thing to do? No. ? Yes Can she love him without hurting him? No, I wanna eat him. Yes. ?. Did she really love him? Yes. No. ? Her inner debate with herself was interrupted when John rolled over in his sleep.

“I can feel you staring at me you know.” He said eyes still closed. Alex smiled and climbed quickly to the roof. John opened his eyes and looked to where Alex and crouched. Nothing was there. He smiled as Xander walked into the room. He looked serious and concerned. He grabbed a chair from the desk and sat down. For what seemed like the longest minute on record, they just stared at each other. Xander broke the silence first.

“You know there’s more to all of this than what she’s telling you, right?” John looked at the floor.

“Yeah, I kind of figured that. She seemed like she was hiding something from me, but who am I to ask?” he questioned in a low voice. He almost sounded hurt.

“I think its best that she didn’t. She’s not stable enough to tell you something like that.”

“Something like what?” John asked concerned. Alex was hiding something from him and he didn’t know if he really wanted to hear it.

“Something like she has three different personalities.” Xander said calmly. John’s eyes widened.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I mean that she can be one of three people. Alex-the nice/good girl you know. Alexandria-the bad and evil girl she used to be, and possibly wants to kill you, and Lexa-the girl that’s a little bit of both.”

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

“I want you to know who she is. You claim you care for her, you’re going to have to accept her for everything.”

“I’ve accepted that she was a vampire. Is that enough?” Xander shook his head.

“You just accepted that she’s a vampire with a troubled past, and just discovered she could change into a whole different person fairly quickly. Are you able to handle all of that?” Xander asked. John didn’t answer. He actually had to think about this. He cared for Alex, but was this too much?

Alex stood on a branch high on a pine tree in her yard. It overlooked the lake. She liked to think there when the roof just didn’t feel right. The debate within her from before continued.

You can’t have him and be who you are. You’re a vampire and he’s a human. Look at what happened already. It’s bound to happen again Alex. Thin k about it. Remember Jacques. Soon you won’t be able to control yourself and end up killing him anyway. You can only survive so long as his blood tortures you with each passing day.

You can be with him. You did it before with Jacques. Yes, you killed him, but not because of your hunger, but because of your temper. Plus Damian manipulated you.

As her different personas battled, a cool breeze brushed past her and Alex shivered. Alex sniffed the air around her. Something’s not right. She thought to herself. She sniffed the air again. It smelled different. It didn’t smell crisp and of damp soil and leaves. Something smelled wrong. It felt wrong. It was just wrong. Just all out wrong. Alex gathered herself and headed back to the house. She could hear that John was talking to Xander. She scaled the house and swung into John’s open window. She landed in the middle of the room and slowly stood up as she felt the room out. Xander and John looked at each other, and then at Alex.

“What’s wrong Lex?” Xander asked first.

“Yeah, what’s wrong? You look guarded.” John asked. Alex looked down at the floor and closed her eyes. Her breathing got heavier and sped up. She raised her head; eyes still closed and sniffed the air. Alex brought her head back down and opened her eyes. One of her eyes was crimson red, the other deep honey brown. Alex had left the building and left Lexa in her place.

“Something’s not right.” Lexa said coldly. She turned to look at John. He stared at her. Lexa was something new to him since he really didn’t get to experience her presence at the warehouse. He wanted to say something, but decided against it. Instead he looked at her as if he could read her thoughts. He looked deep into her eyes and saw Alex, his Alex. He didn’t know if he could handle this, but he knew he had to try, if not for him, than at least for the woman who carried his heart.

Lexa looked at John again and nodded her head. She shot a look at the window, and was gone with a flash. John and Xander raced to the window to see if they could see her. They searched for something in the dark and a saw a shadow bouncing from tree to tree. It was Lexa; she was heading down towards the beach on the other side of the road in front of the house. They watched her until she was completely out of sight. Xander turned around and headed for the door. He stopped before he hit the hallway and looked at John.

“Are you sure you can handle this?” he asked again. John said nothing. He just shrugged his shoulders and sat on the bed staring out the window. Xander turned to walk into the hallway.

“I’ll just have to try.” he said before Xander left. Was he really able to handle this or was he just lying to himself to keep Alex. He accepted she was a vampire, she was a good guy. Alexandria? Not so much. And Lexa was an enigma wrapped in a puzzle and candy coated with a question. He had a lot to think about as he looked into the darkness.

Lexa jumped from the tree and land gently on the cool soft sand on the beach. She looked around…nothing. Why was she pulled here? She took off her shoes and walked along the shoreline, water crashing over her feet as she walked, her eyes constantly scanning the beach. She got the sudden feeling that she was being watched. Lexa quickly turned around and saw a shadowy figure of a man. She couldn’t make out who it was in the pitch black of night. She stared some more. Damian. She thought. She crouched low to the sand, ready to attack if need be. The figure walked toward her, and she let out a low growl. This figure moved closer. Fangs bared, fists balled, she growled again as he moved closer into the moonlight. She was ready to attack as everything that Damian put her through in the past few weeks replayed in her head. He stepped into the moonlight and Lexa gasped. She had seen this face before. She knew this face once upon a time. The face that looked back at her wasn’t Damien’s, it was another.

“Jacques?” she asked with a quiver in her voice. Lexa closed her eyes, and when she opened them again he was gone. Had Jacques really been standing there? She shook her head. It couldn’t have been. Alexandria killed him over a century ago. This was impossible. An eerie feeling overcame her and she shivered. There was only one way to prove to herself that she was imagining things. Lexa walked over to the spot where he stood and saw not one single footprint. She sniffed the air around her; it smelled the same as before. Was she losing what was left of her mind? She must have been if she thought she saw Jacques standing in front of her not too long ago. Lexa ran her fingers through her long jet black hair.

There’s no way that you saw him. There’s just no possible way.

Of course there’s no way! I killed him a long time ago. Trust me; he was dead when I left him.

Lexa ran back towards the house. She had to get down to the bottom of this. Maybe she was sleep deprived. She had been looking after John for a while, surviving off small cat naps. She hadn’t been eating too well either. She had a blood pouch every now and then, but that wasn’t nearly enough. As she ran back to the house she ran every possible reason of why she didn’t see what, or who she thinks she saw.

When she reached her house she jumped into her open bedroom window. A loud thud echoed throughout the house. Xander rushed into her room to see what was going on.

“What wrong Lex?”

“Something’s not right.” She said calmly.

“I know, you said that earlier. Something else is wrong, I feel it. Spill.” Lexa closed her eyes. She’s never been this rattled before in her life. Had she seen a ghost, or had it been her imagination playing tricks with her mind?

“I think I saw Jacques. Or I didn’t see him. I don’t know what I saw, but I saw him.” She whispered frantically. Xander looked at her as if she was crazy.

“Jacques? I hate to tell you, but he’s dead. He’s been dead. You just imagined it. There’s no way you saw him. You need some rest. Lay down.” Xander directed her. He left the room and the internal debate between personas began.

There he goes being the big brother again.

Oh please! He’s always been that way. We’re only apart by five minutes. Plus rest is for the weak. We have things to figure out.

Maybe he’s right. We have stretched ourselves fairly thin these past few weeks. Between school and Damien we haven’t rested well. Let’s eat and then rest up. We can figure out the rest later.

Eat? You mean those latex abominations you call blood? Please! Don’t be pathetic. We need REAL blood. Fresh blood and we have some right next door.

Shut up Alexandria! No one is going to hurt John. You may not care for him but we do.

The both of you shut up! This is exhausting. We’re not going to hurt John. It’s my turn to bat and I’m getting some blood from the fridge and I’m going to bed. WE need the rest.

No need to go downstairs. There’s a mini fridge over there in the corner.

Lexa looked and saw it. She nodded as her mouth began to water. She walked over to the fridge and picked a pouch of B-. She smiled at the irony of her choice. She placed the pouch into the microwave and watched it as it rotated slowly on the carousel. She grabbed her favorite blue crazy straw and removed the pouch from the microwave. Lexa slowly made her way to the bed. She stabbed the straw into the pouch and began to drink. As soon as she swallowed her first sip she could feel the blood’s energy spread throughout her body, warming and relaxing it. By the time the pouch was a quarter full she started to drift. Finish it! They told her. Instead of using her energy o drink through the straw, she ripped the pouch open with her teeth and gulped down the last of it. As that last drop hit her tongue, she lay down and closed her eyes. As she was about to drift away, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” she said sleepily. John walked into the room. Lexa looked up at him and laid her head back onto her pillow.

“Xander told me about you needing some rest. Thought you could use some company.” He said as he walked onto the other side of her bed. John climbed into bed with her. He laid next to her and wrapped his arm around her. She looked like Alex. She smelled like Alex, but she wasn’t. She was like this Alex hybrid. Could he trust her? Could he love her? John’s heartbeat quickened, and his body stiffened. Lexa took notice.

“John, I’m not going to bite you. Obviously, you knew that because you’re all cuddled up with me. You know who I am. It’s ok, relax. Your heartbeat is keeping me awake. Lexa buried herself into John as she tried to go back to sleep.

“Maybe this won’t be so hard.” He whispered.

“It’s not as complicated as you’re trying to make it. Now let me sleep.” Those were the last words Lexa spoke before she drifted off to sleep. John turned on the T.V. while Lexa slept in his arms.

***

Damian looked angrily at Alex’s window. He’d been there the entire time, hiding, spying.

“You think you may have won this time mortal, but she will be mine again, even if I have to kill you to do it.” He snarled at the window. He looked to the left of him. We will have out revenge, that’s what I turned you for in the first place. I need you, and you’re going to help me. We were enemies and now we are partners.” He spoke to the person next to him.

“When do we strike Damian?” he asked.

“Soon.” Damian said. “Soon my friend. Now let us leave, we have things to plan and havoc to wreak.” He smiled sinisterly as he and the other sped off into the shadows of the night with the moonlight guiding their way.