The sun's rays come in through the window.
There's nothing like a good night's sleep without dreams.
After getting ready, I head to the kitchen.
I need a good dose of food to revive me.
Then I'll ask Amanda to take me to Loren's house.
I miss him a little and there's some stuff I want to ask him.
The dinner table is already full of food, maybe Amanda likes to wake up early? But where is she?
Breakfast consists of chocolate and blackberry cake, coffee, fruit, homemade bread and orange juice. It's a lavish spread.
Amanda's bedroom door opens, a tall guy appears in the living room (the kitchen is separated from the living room only by a counter, which I was behind).
"Good morning, you're Alexandra, right?" He asks while sitting and starting picking food to his plate.
"Yeah, and you must be Rodolfo, right?"
"Exactly, Rodolfo Oliveira, but you can call me Rod." He laughs.
Like Amanda he has an accent when he speaks but I can't quite discern where it is from.
Rodolfo is handsome, tall and broad shouldered, slim build and with a smooth tawny with a mellow copper undertone. His hair is a buzzcut, and his clothes are loose and homey.
"Okay, where's Amanda?"
"Are you two talking about me?" Amanda asks as she enters the kitchen and sits besides Rod.
"I was asking where you were. And Amanda, can you take me to Loren's house today if it's not inconvenient for you?"
"Sure, we can go after breakfast, I have nothing to do today, so I will drop you off there and when you want to come back you can just send me a message. Wait, did we exchange contacts?"
I just ask Sinuhe, who came to sit at my feet some moment ago to take my phone from space.
He looks up at me, and then his sharp small teeth bite my finger that reached out to him, licking the drops of blood clean.
I just look at him dumbfounded, never expecting him to bite me.
'What was that for?'
'Now you can take it yourself anytime.'
Is that a little sassyness in his tone that I'm catching?
I look at him suspiciously and he blinks innocently.
I visualize the space and command in my mind to retrieve it.
It appears in my mind like magic. It's a very novel sensation, I feel like a child that entered a fairy tale for a moment.
"That's so damn cool." Rod whistles.
***
It doesn't take long to reach Loren's house. The streets are nearly deserted, and Amanda drives as fast as she can.
Almost like a crazy person.
My heart is pounding inside my chest. Not even Sammy drives as crazy as her, like there's no traffic laws.
I pull my jacket closer to me. I'm glad I had the foresight to put my clothes in the space before and then wash them yesterday, so now I have something to hold on, the grab handle bars over my head are not enough.
Unlike the beach cabin, Loren's house is a mansion in an upscale neighborhood of the city.
I wonder if every supernatural being is extremely rich, why am I still like a poor wretch using the same clothes for days.
Loren greets us at the door after Amanda honks obnoxiously.
"The girl is safely delivered, see you later Ale."
I'm left with only the fumes and the image of the car already far away. My lips twitch.
"Don't pay attention to her, she tends to be a little out of it, but she's a great person."
He looks the same as the last time I saw him, but shoes and a shirt now. Yay.
"Shall we go?"
***
"So you're telling me only high ranking Neephlins have wings? Isn't that a little unfair?" I ask.
I'm sitting with legs crossed on Loren's living room sofa, munching on cookies, Sinuhe sprawled on the soft rug.
Loren is casually laid in the love seat on the other side like one of my french girls, showing off said wings for me to inspect.
"I guess you can put it that way, humans have differences and we do too, and we're not born angels. After so many times the bloodlines have thinned so not every child is strong and with all traits like they should." He looks a little smug.
"Just like not every other being will get a gift, but gifts are still more common than wings. For our type, our gifts are more related to nature and living beings. For wolves, or lycan or whatever they came up to call themselves again, is more about natural forces and physical enhancements. For the little bloodsuckers it is more… mysterious as they like to call, strange stuff if you ask me, ephemeral things like dark and light, shadows, as sneaky as they are." His eyes look unfocused for a moment.
I sense a beef in the air.
But I don't ask about it.
"To me it all looks good, so…what's your gift?"
"Isn't this pair of wings enough?" He asks seriously.
I blush and stammer.
He throws his head back and laughs, the line of his neck taut. I have to admit he indeed would make anyone want to draw him like this, carefree and beautiful.
"I'm teasing you. I do have a gift, but this… you'll have to discover by yourself." He says languidly.
I throw a cookie at him. Tsk. He catches it in mid air and eats it slowly.
I blush again.
Tsk.