Icy A

Chapter 7

Spending the entire afternoon at Blake's allowed Kelly to make new friends – supernatural friends. They were all nice, even the quiet James in his own way. Andreas, however, didn't strike her as the more pleasant vampire to be around. Okay, he had done nothing to make her bristle really, but he was just so infuriatingly blunt, so impossible to read, and so damn hot…

Stop thinking about his looks, she reprimanded herself as she stole yet another glance towards him. He spent most of his waking time standing, leaning against the wall, looking relaxed, uncaring, and yet alert at the same time. And right then, just like the day before, he stood in that manner, while they all sat around on sofas after having breakfast. By spending the night at Blake's, she had learnt a little bit from Maria and Felicity regarding the world they lived in, the world she seemed to have been allowed entrance for some reason.

“Hey, if you knew Blake was a vampire, why did you ever accept to go out with him?” She asked out of the blue, staring at her friend.

“Well,” Maria looked hesitant, but then she carried on softly, “he's my mate and I love him.”

He's her mate, of course, Kelly mused, Wait, WHAT?

“Did you just say mate?” She exclaimed, eyes widening. “Mate as in soul mate?”

Her best friend just nodded, her smile rivaling that of a celebrity.

“Wow. So that myth was real, huh?” Kelly joked, her curiosity piqued.

“Oh yeah,” Maria drawled the yeah in a teasing manner Kelly only knew too well. She knew how curious she was, she just wanted her to ask the questions.

She didn't like to disappoint. “How can you even tell? Tell me everything!”

“One of the telltale signs,” she started seriously then got distracted somehow, “err… I was saying then…” she trailed off again before finally getting the juicy bits out after receiving a pointed look, “The first sign, or should I say the most obvious one, is the tingles you feel when your mate's skin comes in contact with yours.”

“Oh, so sweet!” Kelly cooed. If it was like she read in the novels, it could only be wonderful.

“I know right!” Maria exclaimed cheerfully, “and, you should know, with the tingles comes an impossibly strong attraction. Personally, I was drawn to Blake more than I would care to admit. The closer he was, the more I was aware of him.”

The words made Kelly shiver for some reason, but she quickly dismissed the small nagging voice at the back of her mind. Maria was blushing furiously, and she had to bite back a smirk at that. Her best friend could be so cute sometimes. “That much, huh?” She teased.

Tingles and impossible attraction… A moment later, Kelly froze, her jaw dropping ever so slightly, her eyes widening before darting to Andreas.

Could it be?

“Nah… it's impossible,” she grumbled after a little while. She then shook her head slightly in an attempt to chase away her assumptions.

Andreas was a vampire, an impossible vampire at that. And Kelly was human, a fiery human. Surely, they weren't mates. How twisted would that be really? Besides, she had Dan. No supernatural mojo was going to tell her this is who you should be with. She was her own woman, and she'd be damned if she let some vampiric nonsense change that.

“Only it is possible,” She heard the iceberg’ calm voice cut through the tense silence after a moment. Iceberg… Just picturing it made her shiver involuntarily. She really thought the term fitted him though.

“What are you talking about?” She demanded, rolling her eyes, denying what she already knew to be the truth.

“You felt them, didn't you?” Again, his voice was impossibly calm, and she had to remind herself to stay calm. She would not be provoked. How could she be angered by someone whose tone was so bland anyways?

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she stuck out her chin, her eyes evading everyone's as if she was afraid they'd see the lie in them.

“I think you do.”

How can he be so damn unaffected? Me, mates with this iceberg? That's a recipe for a disaster. Already, she could picture herself angry too many times to count, while he remained indifferent and his eyes coldly calculating, giving nothing.

“Stop sprouting nonsense!” She all but shouted all of a sudden, blue eyes glaring daggers at him, face flushed, and breathing ragged.

His mate didn't like him very much. Andreas believed he could live with that. He had lived for over eight hundred years without a mate. And although he didn't enjoy the idea of being tied down, especially to a worryingly defenseless human, he was willing to try to change her mind. He saw how happy Blake was. Maybe opening up wasn't such a bad idea after all. If his sire had managed to do it, he, too, could manage… or so he hoped.

He flashed to where she sat and bent over her to ask, “What nonsense?”

The hell! She inwardly shrieked, startling at his proximity. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she cursed his superior speed. What was it with him and getting in her face? She glared at him the best way she could, achieving nothing to no one's surprise.

She watched, fascinated somehow, as he slowly raised his hand and brought it close to her face. She didn't know what he had in mind but she wasn't scared. Yes, he was a vampire, a bloodsucking monster underneath those good looks, but he was Blake's friend, and Maria trusted him...

It was more than that though, something deep inside her relaxed despite his unnerving proximity. And that frightened her, for it made it feel like she was bound to be seduced by his yet-to-be-discovered charms.

And then, his hand was touching her cheek. To be more precise, he just brushed his fingertips across an imaginary line. The gesture was so brief, she could have believed she had dreamed it if it hadn't been for the tingles and the desire that lingered in its wake. It was but the ghost of a caress, but it felt disturbingly intimate. She heard herself gasp and blushed to the roots of her hair, hating how out of breath she felt.

How could a touch that was so light affect her so much? Kelly didn't consider herself an easy girl. Sure, she enjoyed seeing hotties as much as the next girl, but she was by no means a s**t. What was it about this man that made her inner vixen want to come out to play?

Warm brown eyes flashed in her mind and she snapped out of her lustful daze.

“I'm going out with Dan,” she stated, sounding breathless still to her complete and utter dismay.

“I'm aware of that fact,” was Andreas’ reply as he straightened up, giving her pointed look that was neither accusing nor jealous, just knowing. She glared back, refusing to back down, vampire or not, mate or not.

The staring contest continued for about two minutes before she heard Ace grumbling something like “Argh, way to ruin the mood!”

She didn't know what he was talking about, but it seemed to make Andreas finally set her free from his hauntingly empty gray eyes. As he returned to stand against the wall, she was left to wonder what was happening.

No matter how weird the whole Andreas-is-your-mate revelation had been, it paled in comparison to what happened later.

Someone came over. Kelly assumed it was yet another vampire, but he turned out to be an agent of the FBI. Blake's real name turned out to be Angelo – and even Maria hadn't known about that – and he was accused of doing something to a certain Victor. And while Blake's attitude remained nonchalant, albeit cordial, Jessica and Ace became aggressive.

Nothing could have prepared Kelly for the sight of the agent pressed against the wall by Ace, his own g*n pointed at him in Jessica's hold. She was not only scared for him but also fascinated by their lethal beauty. They were both so fiercely protective of Blake, one would have been forgiven to think they were in love with him. According to Andreas, they had a sire complex. She wasn't sure what it was supposed to mean, but if she were to rely on the definition of a sister complex, then it was something akin to love.

A very short argument ensued between Jessica and Ace, but there was no heat behind it. It only served to prove what Kelly already knew: they were all like a big family somehow. It was a weird family, sure, but the love and the comfortableness were there.

And then, the coolest moment was when Blake used his telekinesis power. Kelly wondered briefly if the others could do things like that but didn't ask. Shortly after, he did something she knew about – or at least heard about – he used his persuasion ability to make the guy forget all that had brought him over in the first place. Seeing its efficiency was both frightening and fascinating at the same time.

“That was… interesting,” Kelly commented, the ghost of a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

A whole new world had opened its doors to hers. Who knew her decision to check on her friend would have so many repercussions?