Icy A

Chapter 3

“Why don't you try stepping aside and letting me through?” Kelly's eyelids twitched ever so slightly while she kept on a strained smile.

Whether she was addressing James or Justin, Andreas couldn't say for sure but neither of them responded or moved.

“What's wrong with you people?” She then glared at no one in particular before her eyes found Maria's, silently pleading with her to say something.

“It’s… err, complicated,” her friend apologized a bit awkwardly, making her worry and suspicions double.

“Why don't you join us in the living-room?” Felicity started right after closing the front door behind her, “You'll have to keep your distance from Maria though,” she finished a little bit timidly.

“Say what?” Kelly felt outrage boiling within her veins. The situation was beyond fishy, and yet her friend seemed okay with it, reluctant but accepting. Her mind raced with the possibilities. Could it be her friend was being held captive for a reason or another? Was there some unknown danger out there to get her? Or was she perhaps just being paranoid?

While a frown came to adorn Kelly's face, a small rueful smile ripped through Maria's features, “Please bear with it… for me.” She hurried to finish before her friend could object.

It didn't really look like anyone was forcing Maria's hand, but she did seem troubled. As Kelly took note of that, her eyes softened, her shoulders slumped a little bit in surrender, and she was soon letting out on a sigh, “Lead the way.”

                                                  *****************************

Kelly sat begrudgingly on a large sofa across the one Maria had been occupying most of the day and still was. Andreas calmly observed her from where he stood behind his sire's mate's sofa, and tried to make an assessment of the situation. Blake's brother, Lucian, was out for blood, and he didn't put it past him to use a human girl to finish the work for him. Would he have the brains to do so? He didn't know. The strong-willed blonde sure looked innocent, but who knew? Her eyes had long since snapped shut, the fingers of her right hand were messing nervously with the soft fabric of her skirt; she looked like she was on the verge of either of crying or throwing a fit – the latter, he chanced, was most likely what awaited them.

Soon enough, Felicity silently joined her on the sofa whereas Jessica and M-J flanked Maria's sides. As for Ace, Justin and James, they had all taken a liking, it seemed, to the chairs that were near the princess.

“Blake isn't here?” One perfectly puckered eyebrow rose in question. Kelly sounded much calmer than she herself expected, and yet she was as worried as she had been when she first left the school, if not more. She noticed that her friend averted her eyes at that and let out a silent sigh that didn't sit well with her.

Looking at Maria's rather grim expression, Kelly prepared herself for the worse.

Felicity did her the surprise of answering for her, “He needed to leave for some business.”

It seemed that once replying was out of the picture, Maria found it much easier to look her friend in the face, and that reassured Kelly's troubled mind somewhat… still, everything was unclear, everyone was acting weird and being secretive, and that couldn't bode well.

“Business, huh?” Andreas watched as the blonde's eyebrow rose yet again, doubt tainting her words. He had to hand it to her; she was no fool.

“He… I…” Maria stammered, failing to come up with a good explanation.

“There were familial matters that needed his immediate attention,” supplied M-J, Blake's niece, from where she sat next to Maria, in an emotionless voice that wasn't like her.

“What kind of urgent familial matters, I wonder,” Kelly muttered loud enough for everybody to hear while her eyebrows knitted together, giving her a perplexed look.

Although he couldn't see Maria, Andreas could sense her beginning to regret her decision to see her best friend. She had not thought about how awkward the situation would be with them keeping Kelly away from her.

“The kind you shouldn't worry your little head with,” he let out in the most blasé of his tones, helping her out.

“I beg to differ!” She exclaimed, rising to her feet, her bright blue eyes all but spitting fire. Everyone watched her closely, on the lookout for any suspicious gesture, for any threat when there was but a mild chance of her being one. “I want to know what might have gone through his head to leave her with you lot,” she took a step forward, her angry gaze fleetingly drifting to Jessica and M-J whom she didn't know either, before focusing again on Andreas's face which was as impassible as it could ever get.

Kelly saw her friend shake her head slightly, eyes pleading; nevertheless, she took another step forward, daring everyone to stop her from getting close to her friend. Although she wasn't exactly the observant type, Kelly saw the women sitting next to Maria straighten up ever so slightly whereas the guys who were sitting rose to their feet.

Defiantly, nothing but resolution shining through her eyes, Kelly took yet another step. Only six feet separated her from her friend, and she really didn't understand why they all looked so on the defensive.

Andreas enjoyed how the blonde teenager looked fearless, and both loved and hated how her face showed all the emotions swirling within her. She was, however, not to be trusted unless anyone was to prove otherwise, and he wouldn't hesitate to stop her, no matter the means, if needed. And that was why, before she could carry on advancing, he jumped over the sofa the girls were sitting on, and stood at three feet away from her, shielding the princess.

Kelly's eyes widened at the sudden and much unexpected apparition. She wondered how he could move so fast. “What the hell?” She exclaimed, a moment later, when her tongue decided to cooperate. Her expression was, she was sure, one of utter and complete bewilderment, but she couldn't care less.

The guy was unbelievably stoic, held himself in an unnervingly proud manner, and was the epitome of a human statue. Hell, even his eyes showed no life, not that she was able to read people well to begin with, but even she could see how closed off he was.

To complete the picture, he didn't even answer. How arrogant could a man be?

“Seriously just who do you think you are?” She couldn't stop the words if she wanted, as her eyes narrowed at him.

Her question seemed to have fallen on deaf ears for the silence stretched. She grew angrier by the second. If there was one thing Kelly absolutely abhorred, it was being looked down upon. Was she so insignificant he didn't even bother giving her an answer? Did he really see her so beneath him he needn't acknowledge her at all? The guy was seriously starting to get on her nerves. Where did all that arrogance come from? He wasn't even that good looking!

She took the few steps that separated her from him, only stopping when their shoes almost touched, and then jabbed a finger at him, repeating her earlier question.

“As I recall I've answered that question before,” was his shrug-accompanied response. Andreas wasn't sure why she had gotten so angry, but he was not changing his demeanor and speech pattern, just to please her. She might be his mate but, right then, she was, first and foremost, a potential enemy.

He observed her, inwardly anxious, as she let out a loud “argh” in frustration, shaking her head as if to send her presumably murderous thoughts away, and was almost tempted to chuckle at her.

“Why are you acting like such a watchdog anyways?” If her angry words were meant to insult him, she was going to be disappointed to see that she didn't land a hit. Andreas had come to the help of Blake, not because he was his sire and he had asked him to – although there was that – but because he was the closest he had to a mentor-s***h-best-friend and he would be damned if he didn't do him the favor of helping him out when he needed him. He would gladly give his life for the man. And if push came to shove, he would kill his own mate for him… That was just how loyal he was to the man.

“I have my reasons,” was his calm answer. Whatever the girl was trying to achieve by provoking him clearly wasn't happening, and her eyes narrowed even more at that.

She then scowled before trying yet again, “What the hell are you making me keep my distance from Maria for? Why are you acting like such a jerk?”

“As I said I have my reasons,” his tone was no different than it was before, despite her being practically yelling, and that was did it for her.

How could he be so unfazed?

“You are freaking insufferable!” She accused, her annoyance so strong, her nostrils flared and her jaw clenched. She felt like throwing a tantrum. She was after all infuriated, and it only seemed natural that her voice started going up a few notches.

To him, however, it was only a wasted energy. There was nothing she could achieve. Neither yelling nor cajoling was going to get her anywhere, but she didn't realize it from the looks of it.

“I can be,” he shrugged, taunting her anew with his devil-may-care demeanor without meaning to. It was just in his nature to be collected and emotionless at all times.

The remaining of Kelly's restraint vanished at that, and the last thread of her self-control snapped under the pressure of her exponentially increasing anger as she allowed herself to act rash. She was quick to raise her hand and slap that arrogant face.

Andreas chose to let her have her way since he didn't want her getting too consumed by anger. His other reason, arguably, was that he wanted to make sure she was indeed his mate, and not just some human girl whose blood called out too much to him for comfort. He was not disappointed. Through the very mild sting he felt, the skin of his cheek tingled, and he had to suppress the urge to groan at that.

Kelly was sure she had given it her all; nevertheless, it looked like he had not felt a single thing. Her hand dropped to her side as she stood there watching him, feeling almost as dumb-struck as she was angry.

“Satisfied?” he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly as he used the same voice as earlier.

She looked far from it. “Argh!” She let out in both supreme annoyance and outrage, her hand rising to slap him again, unable as she was to stand his much too stoic self.

“Though I do like the feel of your skin on mine, I'd rather you stop,” he deftly stopped her hand mid-air and brought her a little bit closer.

The entire audience stared flabbergasted for a total of three seconds before a few reactions registered. His fellow vampires got that unmistakable knowing look, while Maria and Felicity – and obviously Kelly – were the only ones who had yet to understand the situation.

Kelly, on the other hand, gasped at the unexpected turn of events. On a second inspection, the guy had a nice rugged body, his square face was perfectly symmetrical, his gray eyes were mesmerizing, even in their indifference, and the strong hand he used to gently hold her wrist made her skin tingle and her knees feel like mashed potatoes. She couldn't even begin to understand how she could have thrown him earlier into the not-so-good-looking-guys category when he was nothing like any she had met before. Hell, even the scar his eyebrow sported was something!

“I… what…” Andreas got this sudden urge to smirk when he noticed how she seemed unable to form a single coherent sentence, but he naturally refrained from doing so.

“I'll suggest you sit back,” he released her hand and then took one step backwards, giving her some much-needed space.

Somewhere deep within him, he hoped she would just take some time to get her wits together and then start firing some new accusations at him, but she simply and silently obliged, despite his not using the persuasion ability on her. He could almost see the wheels turning within her head as she tried to shed some light on the whole ordeal, and he found her pensive frown endearing.

Already, she was growing on him.

And he didn't even like blondes.