Urges

It was sometime close to daybreak when I found myself standing in front of Cecily's house. There was no one around which was my entire point for being here at all. I could have waited until I saw her again but she hadn't left her house since last night. I hoped that she was resting. After the ordeal it would be beneficial for her to be wary of where she went.

I knocked on the door after a few minutes of listening in on what was going on the other side. She was actually awake. The television was on and she was sipping coffee. Insomnia? I began to wonder or was it something else entirely.

The sound of the TV set turning off and then she was shuffling to the kitchen to put her cup down. I could hear her quiet voice straining to be louder to let the person on the other side of the door - me - know that she was coming. She couldn't have known that I already knew that but then again I suppose this was going to be a surprise to her. Or maybe it wasn't. Cecily for what I knew about her currently was hard to read herself.

I usually could tell what another person was thinking by their actions or what they said to me but she was thoroughly something I couldn't grasp fully. I think it was because I didn't know what she was thinking, behind her non-seeing eyes.

When the door opened and she surveyed the area looking very disheveled I took a step back. "Who is it?"

I looked at her a moment. She had something in her hand. Something that was poorly concealed but I suppose could work well enough to protect her if she needed it be. "Vic." I called, sighing.

She relaxed a little as she tilted her head up like before as if she could tell where my face was. "Hello." She said, a small smile flitting up on her face. It took like a second for her to slink back a bit as to invite me in. This was also note the fact that this was okay, this was allowed. Not everyone had to be invited in.

In this part of town the house was the master. If it felt that you had malicious intent and wanted to harm the host it wouldn't allow you entrance. It was kind of odd and due to the fact that I didn't make a habit of wanting to go into houses. I slept in a place that was all my own but I was rarely there unless I had to be for some reason.

I did hesitate a brief second before stepping over the threshold. I knew that I wouldn't be pushed back like some people would have. It did make me wonder about her sister's boyfriend however. Had he made it past the threshold? Or had they only ever met in a public setting. I didn't know enough to have anything to go on as a real answer.

Once she locked the door she turned back around to me. It was then that I noticed that she was in PJs.

"I hope I didn't wake you." I knew that I hadn't but she hadn't the slightest clue about it.
She shook her head as she slipped past me and moved fluidly over to the couch and sat back down. She wasn't in use of her stick here. Everything was mapped out for her. It was easy here. That wasn't my worry so I didn't dwell too much on it as I stood next to the couch.

"No. I don't sleep well at night."

We were both quiet for a moment before she angled her body towards where I was standing. It was hard to get used to this. I had to ask about it but she started a conversation before I got the chance.
"What made you stop by?"

Answering that question was fairly difficult for me. I knew why I was there but I didn't know how to tell her that without making it seem like I was concentrating on her. Like I cared.

"Thought I'd check in." I cleared my throat. That was half the truth.

"I'm fine." She smiled at me again. "Just about anyways. Isn't it almost time for you to rest?"
My lips twitched at the terminology she used for that. I shrugged. I didn't have to 'rest' as she called it. Echoing her earlier words, "I'm fine. You should sleep though."

"With you here?" Her brows furrowed. I was confusing her and I knew that I could easily fix that but I felt better knowing that I wasn't the one getting frustrated over something simple as sleeping under your own roof with a guest in the vicinity. Then again I didn't normal keep guests with me.

"I can go." I told her instead. "You're on your own regularly I suppose..." I stopped worried as to what would come out of my mouth next.

This wasn't how I envisioned this going. I hadn't really known what would transpire here but this was obviously not it either.

I groaned.

"Um..." She paused looking down at her hands though there was nothing for her to look at really - not for her.

"I will go." I decided to make it easy for her. She didn't have to say yes and I didn't have to feel obligated about it later. Though I had a feeling that I would. Curse the Vic that I use to be. He lingered more often than not. Especially when wanting to help people in distress. Cecily wasn't in distress now but who could say that that would last long.

Last night hadn't been an accident. The Drink & Drivers always went for the ones that couldn't protect themselves. It was easier than getting marked by the humans that had the ability to fight back. It did give me an idea but that would involve a lot of backtracking on my part.

Her voice stopped me mid-thought. "I wouldn't mind having someone here for a change." The way she tugged at her lip made me wonder when if ever had she had anyone over that wasn't her sister. Does she have more family than that? The questions were piling on and I didn't know how to reign it all back in. This was one of the reasons I didn't get involved with people. I wanted to know everything.

It was a curse.

She had left the door open for me.

Her comfort was key to how this night could go.

"You can stay in here. My room is just down the hall." I went to stop her from telling me anything more. You can't just say things like that to a grown man even if he's there to make sure you're safe and not alone. It's very uncomfortable and could give any other man ideas.

She wasn't that type though.

"I'll be back in a few hours." She had paused when she noticed how irritating her first line of inquire had made me. There was one good thing in all of this. She was aware of my moods. Most people if I interacted with them didn't understand and pushed until I got to the point where I walked away or just about was ready to snap their neck in half.

It wasn't an often enough occurrence but I could get there. If the events of a few hours ago were anything to go by.

Once Cecily had gone to her room I let out a sigh of relief. I took a seat on the couch figuring that I'd just sit there until she came back like she said she would. My mind was racing too much though. So I got back to my feet and moved over to the window that had drapes pushed back so that you could see out of the window. It wasn't high enough to see liked I enjoyed to do - from rooftops. The perfect vantage point for me but it was still a clear view for what was around.

I sat there looking into the quiet night up until the moment I heard her slip from out of her bed and go into the bathroom.

The sun was out, I turned grabbing the shades from inside my jacket pocket and slipping them on before sitting back on the couch to wait for her.

When she came out she stopped for a full beat. I think she was expecting something. I was just watching her as she relaxed her posture and slid right behind me to the kitchen where she began to fiddle with some things in there.

Out of curiosity I joined her. I stayed right over the line that put me inside the kitchen. I preferred to look at things from the outside.

She had grabbed a bowl, a box of cereal from the shelf that was just her height and the jug of milk from the fridge and was quickly assembling her breakfast.

"Corn flakes?" I questioned.

It startled her. She just about dropped the milk as she was getting ready to put it back in the fridge. I moved quickly to grab it before it completely busted all over the linoleum. Doubling back to make sure she didn't trip or anything as she had pressed her back against the side of the counter.

"That almost made a mess. You forgot I was here." I mumbled.

She had her eyes pressed closed as she took in deep breathes trying to catch it before answering me.

That had actually been an accident. Before she was trying to figure out where I was by feeling where I was in the room. Or if I was there at all. I still didn’t know how she could tell.

"No. No. I just didn't know if you had left or had been resting." She finally got out as she turned back to her breakfast and picked it up. I sidestepped so that she wouldn't brush up against me. A small flash to when I had touch her the last time came to memory. I didn’t do that well. Touching others. Not humans. Not her.

"I didn't need to and that's not why I came here. I do have a place to live."

"Really?" She questioned as she took a bite of her breakfast. She settled on the couch. I stood to the side as I had done before.

I nodded, realizing that wasn't helping. "Uh, yeah. I don't just happen to roam around freely looking for a place to crash."

Her mouth tilted slightly as she was eating. Something about that was funny to her.
"You came back to my house." She told me.

"Different reason."

Her eyebrows raised as she continued eating. I stuffed my hands into my pocket.

I let her finish eating quietly before we continued with any of this conversation. Didn't want to make her choke with something I said.

"Why don't you live with your sister? Or why doesn't she live here?"

Her phone decided to ring at that moment. By the way she picked it up she had to know who was calling. It wasn't a generic ringtone. Someone important.

Her phone automatically put it on speaker. Specs were customized to aid her. That was nifty.
As the caller began to talk I knew who it was.

"You doing okay this morning?" River, her sister could be heard on the other line. There was also a lot of commotion in the background but I could tell she was talking loudly so that Cecily could hear her.

"Yep. Just finished breakfast."

"You sound weird, are you sure you're okay?"

This was one of the things that I didn't miss about interacting with my family. They thought I was dead - didn't go back to show them that I was fairly alive (as much as a vampire could be). They asked a lot of question.

"She's fine." I interrupted causing Cecily to swivel to look at me at the same time that River said, "What? Who is that?"

I chuckled. "Vic. That guy who saved your sister from dying last night."

"Don't be a smartass. What are you doing in my sister's house?"

I decided that this was one of those times where I had to be completely blunt. I would have rather not said it in front of Cecily but this was a delicate situation and I wasn't exactly known for taking things lightly.

"Keeping watch."

"I'm not defenseless." Cecily told me while her sister just stayed silent.

"I meant what I said last night." I was talking to River which caused Cecily to tense up. I think she was used to knowing things and not knowing this bothered her greatly.

"I'll call you back." She mumbled before locking the phone. Again, the phone seemed to understand that she was done. She got to her feet and moved about three paces too far away from me and started talking.

"What exactly did you two talk about?"

I put a hand out hovering over her shoulder so that she would know that she needed to turn. She did, hands on her hips and waiting for my answer.

I huffed. It wasn't like it was big deal. Yet to me it was. I didn't make a habit of staying with people at night. I stayed to myself. Here I was though after making a decision to be there for her when no one else seemed to want to be - myself included.

"You should be looked after."

"I'm fine." She mumbled.

"Sure." I started. "Last night though..." I broke off watching her. She wasn’t happy with me right now. I continued shortly, "Not a freak accident. You're vulnerable around people like me."

"I'm doing just fine around you." She had a point but that was because I had no interest in doing anything with her. I did feel some kind of pull towards her in a non-attached kind of way. "I pass by people like you every day."

"There aren't many people like me."

"What do you mean?" She grew quiet.

I combed a hand through my hair and tugged at it. Almost glad that she couldn't see the look of frustration on my face. We could not get into my tortured past right now. I didn't want to.

"Most people would do exactly what those idiots tried to do to you. I might not be there another time."

She slumped a little and took a step in my direction but I stepped back. I might not be attracted to her but a human was still a human and drinking was something I had been trying to do without for a little while now. It had been working until she had gotten hurt.

"I'm grateful for what you did, but I'm going to be okay."

"Damn you." I muttered.

She gasped.

"I wasn't asking you. I might not like myself much but I wouldn't let anyone hurt you if I can help it."

"But, why? I don't understand."

This was the true selling point of the whole thing. Having to admit something that I detested with every fiber of my being.

"Neither do I."

It didn't settle much of anything and I was sure I had confused her more but she had accepted it. She didn't really have much of a choice in the matter but it wasn't like I would be with her the entire time. The plan really was simple and I wouldn't have to be with her closely. In a way I would be doing what I enjoyed from the rooftops. She just happened to be what I would zone in on; every day and night.