No Life Kid 20

Somewhere in between the fight and the drink, the rain Zander thought he’d outrun had finally caught up on its path north. Drizzle had already slicked down the asphalt on the streets of Forks in a few short minutes of rain, bringing this corner of the Pacific Northwest back to a familiar level of damp.

The smell of burnt sugar had already begun to fade, the rain-backed breeze and night chill doing their part to replace vampire ash stink with the aggressively normal scent of wet pine and stirred-up earth. With a grunt, Zander shoved his still-scuffed hands into the pockets of the stiff denim, nails still caked with dirt from the brawl.

His silk-lined shirts, the tailored slacks, the blue leather boots… Damnit. 

Zander scoffed at nothing, a tight breath of air leaving him as he kept walking. All those were gone, his own blood and James’ claws doing more than a number on them in that fight in the sawmill. He had to dump the whole fit in a rusted incinerator bin behind the mill before making a blurry half-naked detour to a closed thrift store on Forks main street. And now I look like an extra in a Disney Channel movie.

The plain white tee gripped his shoulders a little too tight and the blue jeans were stiff as cardboard, meaning the only good part about this whole new outfit was the pristine white Adidas that had yet to be broken in. The only thing he bothered keeping was the semi-scuffed Vergil-blue jacket — rips and all — and he only kept it tossed over one shoulder because he needed somewhere to keep the handcannons.

Something vibrated against his thigh, Lex’s borrowed phone pulling him out of his thoughts as it started buzzing like a hornet inside cheap denim. With a sigh, Zander pulled it out and flipped the plastic shell open with his thumb. "Yeah, Walter?"

"Master Cray.” The manservant came through, voice crisp and immaculate as ever. "I’ve been trying to reach you for quite some time now.”

“...yeah, that was…” Blue eyes slid shut, Zander nodding slow for no one to see. “… that was my bad, Walter.”

“No, sir. It was mine. My reconnaissance was faulty. It appears Miss Stanley was in no danger at all, and had simply gone to a friend’s home for the evening.”

“Yeah… yeah…” He sounded like a broken record, he knew that, but he couldn’t exactly stop it either. “I know, Walter.”

“...you do?” He could hear the raised eyebrow. “May I ask how, sir?”

“Out of the horse’s mouth, Walter.”

“...ah.” The butler was silent for a full second, digesting that. “So I am to assume Miss Stanley is in no danger?”

“Nothing vamp-related, nah.”

“Well, in that case, I must report that Miss Stanley has called the house approximately twelve times in the last four hours."

Zander rubbed the back of his neck. “She did, huh?” The skin there was flawless, fully regenerated from where James had tried to rip his throat out, but that didn’t mean the phantom ache had gone anywhere yet.

“And judging from the repeatedly off-color messages she left, she did not seem at all happy with the prolonged silence on your part.”

Another sigh slid free as Zander sidestepped a massive puddle reflecting the sickly yellow glow of a streetlamp. "Yeah, I figured she might be upset." 

"Upset is something of an understatement, sir. She was quite... vocal." A faint, rhythmic squeaking sounded over the line — Walter polishing something. 

Probably a gun. Zander tilted his head.

"Her most recent message involved several colorful suggestions regarding what you could do with your mysterious family emergencies, most anatomically impossible."

“...huh.” The street was empty, the town asleep, but the guilt might as well have been a gunshot the way it hit right in the center of his chest. "She actually say 'mysterious family emergency' or…?”

"I believe the exact phrase was 'bullshit family emergency.”

Zander couldn’t help the snort that burst free. "That's my girl." Blue eyes blinked a second later as his own words settled in. "I mean... I hope."

"Indeed, Master Cray."

"One vampire down and burnt to kitty litter.” He clicked his tongue, the phone held tighter to his ear. “But now I gotta make up a good reason why I vanished for almost two days."

"Perhaps a modified version of honesty, sir?”

The truth? Zander wasn’t sure exactly how modified the truth of things could get before it was just another lie pulled clean from his ass. Yeah, sorry babe, I was in Arizona with Bella and Edward sharing a hotel suite with Alexis on some rich shit. Nothing weird there.

He clicked his tongue again, glaring full-on daggers at a stop sign that had done nothing at all to deserve it. "Yeah, y’know what? I'll figure it out… probably."

"Understood, sir."

Zander snapped the phone shut.

Thirty minutes of walking at a perfectly human pace — enough time to think and plan — and he was already where he needed to be. Unfortunately. A little over a half hour ago, he was drinking syrupy-sweet venom off a shattered corpse, and now he was walking past manicured lawns, plastic tricycles abandoned in driveways, and decorative suburban mailboxes.

He stopped at the edge of the Stanley property, Mrs. Stanley’s sensible sedan parked in the driveway next to Mr. Stanley’s pickup. The downstairs was barely lit, but a square of yellow light pulsed from the second floor. Jess…

Zander stared at the light, fingers twitching as he fought the urge to scale the side of the Stanley house, pop the window latch, and slide into her room like a shadow.  Wow…  A full-second later, he blinked. That sounds mad creepy, actually.

He shook his head quickly. Don’t pull an Edward, man. 

Besides, sneaking in was annoying for more than just the ‘creepy’ reason.

Pushing aside those thoughts, Zander went with the human option and started punching the stiff plastic keys of Lex’s phone. Yo, Jbird, it’s Z. M outside. Can we talk?

Ten seconds later, the phone buzzed in his palm and he got his answer. Go away.

Zander sighed, thumbs already moving again.

Pls Jess. 5 mins. Then i go.

The response took a little longer this time. You left. For LIKE A WHOLE TWO DAYS. Tf Zan. Go away.

Another sigh slipped free. I know. I'm sry. Lemme xplain.

The yellow light in the upstairs window shifted, a shadow moving across the blinds. Zander could hear the buttons being punched, angry and heavy for someone with such small hands as she grumbled under her breath.

The phone vibrated again. Mom's coming to the door.

Zander slid the phone into his pocket, breathing deep and slow as he walked up the concrete path. As soon as he reached the door, a single finger pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong.

Footsteps approached from the other side, too heavy to be Jessica’s.

The door swung inward, a woman with blonde hair pulled into a messy bun standing there in a faded blue bathrobe, arms crossed tight over her chest, and smelling like chamomile tea

Brown eyes narrowed at him.

"Hi, Mrs. Stanley." Zander waved her way.

"...Alexander."

The full name — the only one she ever used — dropped like a cinderblock on a glass table.

Zander nodded slow, unsure how to deal with the anger radiating off the small woman blocking the doorway. Violence was simple and easy, and even if he could break her neck before she ever knew she was dead, that didn’t do anything to solve the actual problem.

In fact, it would give him like a thousand more.

"I know it's late," Zander pushed all thoughts of instinctive violence and murder aside. "And I know I don't deserve it, but I’d like to speak with Jessica? Just for a few minutes."

Mrs. Stanley just stared at him, silence stretching long and thin. After too long, the woman finally let out a slow sigh, nostrils flaring wide as her gaze refused to leave him. “Five minutes and living room only, young man.”

“Of course.” His head rocked up and down again. “So… may I come in?”

“Hm. You may.” She pursed her lips as she stepped back, gesturing vaguely to the left. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Zander bit down his grin as he stepped into the house, the space welcoming him in rather than pushing down like it normally would otherwise. One of the more annoying parts of being whatever the fuck he was, it wasn’t anything debilitating but entering without an invitation always felt like the vampire version of the flu. 

He wasn’t sure exactly why it even worked like that, and he never had much chance to really deal with it seing as it didn’t come up all that often. Why wouldn’t it just keep me from coming in at all, for re-?

“Zander.”

He blinked, eyes going up to where Jessica stood at the top of the stairs.

She wasn't wearing her usual armor. No lip gloss, no perfectly styled hair, and no stylish outfit designed to make Lauren Mallory spit blood at the sight of it. Jess just had on baggy pink sweatpants and an oversized faded t-shirt that swallowed her up, dirty blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail as messy as her mom’s bun.

By the time she came down the stairs to meet him, Zander had only one word to say as he stared at those red-rimmed puffy eyes.

"Hey.”

"...Hey yourself."

She didn't spend a second longer than she had to with her eyes on him, both two words sliding out as she walked past him into the living room. Jessica plopped down on the far end of the Stanley’s floral-patterned couch, knees pulled up to her chest.

Zander walked in after her.

He didn’t sit beside her, instead settling into the loveseat opposite the couch.

"So, what was so incredibly important that you couldn't, like, send a text?” Those same red-rimmed eyes narrowed his way. “Tell me where you were going? Or even when you'd be back?"

Zander took a breath, the lie from the last half-hour already on his lips. “Remember… remember that inheritance thing, the whole mess I told you about with the estate?” He leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees.

“...kinda?”

He figured that’d be the answer, a blessing in disguise. It had been weeks since he mentioned anything in real detail about his ‘family’ situation and he had never expected much of it to stick in the first place anyway. Spending money was way more fun than hearing about where it came from, honestly. “See, turns out my great-grandfather had some... really complicated business dealings. When he died, it created problems I didn't know about until a couple days back.”

Jessica’s frown deepened just a bit, suspicion warring with clear curiosity on her face. "What kind of problems?"

"Well, real complicated stuff, but let’s just say it was the kind that meant I had to take some emergency flights across the country back-to-back. Barely had time to shower, and definitely no time to even pack a bag.” Zander gestured one hand down at his cheap new outfit. “Like, look at what I’m wearing. You think it’s by choice?”

Jessica tilted her head, expression softening just a bit. “But… what was it about, though?”

Zander let out another sigh. “About? I mean, it was about… a lot of stuff, honestly.” His own ego was definitely part of it, and a chunk of his own impatience causing more problems than there needed to be. “Mostly just… just dealing with the kinds of people who thought they could scare me into giving up my inheritance."

He watched her take all that in, shaking his head. “Just… I know it’s hard to believe but it got ugly fast, Jay." Some real exhaustion crept into his face, voice edged with the same. "These weren't just lawyers. They were... bad people. I couldn't even risk having my phone tracked while I was handling it. I had to go dark dark."

She studied his face, blinking as she looked him up and down. "That's it?" Her voice cracked a bit. "Business stuff?"

“...business stuff.” He reached across the small gap between them, hand hovering over hers for a second before gently covering her fingers.

She didn’t pull away.

"I should have found a way to contact you.” His thumb traced the knuckles of her hand as he spoke. "I should have warned you. But I was terrified they might use you to get to me if they knew about you. I was… this was all about protecting you."

"You were... you were protecting me?" She looked down at their joined hands. "By what? Just disappearing? By just leaving me here to think you'd just... left?"

"I thought it would be… quick, like over in a couple hours, one trip and back maybe.” Zander insisted, voice low as he could get it without whispering. “I figured we could just laugh about how paranoid I was being. I didn't… I didn’t know how smart these guys… It wasn’t as simple as I thought taking them on, okay?" 

The lie burnt on his tongue, tasting like Italian food. "I didn't think about how it would look from your end. I'm sorry, Jess. I… I fucked up, okay?"

Jessica sniffed, one tear cutting a track down her cheek. "You scared me, you know?" 

Zander blinked. “What?”

"I thought…” Jessica shrugged, eyes watering freely. “I thought maybe you'd realized how boring Forks is. Or how... how boring I am compared to your old life in Miami."

He froze, mouth half open.

"I thought you just... decided you were done playing with the small-town girl and left."

She didn't think you were dead. Another automatic round of guilt riddled his open chest. She just thought you were just an asshole. Honestly, based on how he’d been acting from his first day in Forks, he couldn't blame her. The mysterious rich kid persona was really a weapon against everyone.

She was just in the crossfire too.

"Jess, look at me."

Zander shifted closer, moving from the loveseat to the floor, kneeling in front of her. His hands reached up as he cupped her face in both hands, thumbs gently wiping away the tears. "Look at me."

Her eyes met his. 

"I'm not going anywhere." He pushed every ounce of humanity he had left into the words. "Not without you knowing about it. And definitely not because I'm bored."

He leaned in, forehead resting against hers.

"You are the best thing that's happened to me since I got to this damp-ass town, jaybird." The truth came out easier than any lie. "Hell, you're the best thing that's happened to me, period. In a long, long time."

Jessica let out a shuddering breath. "Don't do that again, please.”

She launched herself forward, collapsing right into him. Slender arms wrapped themselves tight around his neck, Jess burying her face in his shoulder, right where the skin had knit itself back together almost an hour ago. He closed his eyes, burying his face in her messy blonde hair, inhaling the scent of vanilla and sugar and citrus and life.

“Just... promise you won’t leave me wondering if you're ever coming back."

Zander tightened his grip.

"...I promise."