Chapter Four: ChangedGray was busy with the cute girl he'd picked up at the pub last night when the knock came on his front door.
“Damn it,” he muttered as he clambered off her and put his boxers on.
“Why can't you just ignore it, baby?” she complained, wrinkling her nose adorably. It was all Gray could do not to jump back in bed with her.
“Sorry, luv, it might be something important. Stay in here, will ya.”
He walked across his small, messy apartment, scratching his scruffy hair and opened the front door. He only had a few seconds to take in what he was looking at before a fist slammed into his face. Gray staggered back in shock, gripping his bleeding nose. He thought for a second that it was lucky he wasn't wearing anything other than his boxers, or he would have gotten blood spattered all over his clothes.
“Argh! What the bleeding hell was that for?!” he yelled.
Lola Lurraxol stepped inside his apartment. She didn't looked very different from the last time he'd seen her, which had been in Downtown a few weeks ago. Her hair was still shoulder long, dark and crazy. Today it had been shoved back with a black diadem. Lola's cheekbones stuck out of her slim face and she still had those dark circles under her eyes.
“I'm gay, okay? Deal with it!” She aimed to punch him another time, but Gray dodged just in the nick of time.
“Hey! What's with all the violence?” He dodged her fist again, hand still on his nose. It was bleeding quite a lot now. His touch was really painful. It sent little ripples of pain up to his brain. “You better not have broken my nose, bitch.”
“Bitch? You're calling
me a bitch?” She tried to slug him again. This time Gray grabbed her wrist with the hand that wasn't clutching his sore nose.
“Calm down, alright. Can't we talk about this like civilised people? I don't even know what you're on about.”
She struggled to get her wrist out of his grasp, but Gray held on to her wrist firmly.
“You couldn't be civilised if your life depended on it! Get offa me!!” Lola spat.
“Not until you calm down.”
She stopped struggling. “OK, I'm calm.”
Gray wasn't convinced. Lola's hands were still balled into tight fists and her jaw was set. He could nearly see the vain in her ticking away. She was probably waiting for the opportune moment to sock him one as soon as he let go.
“Uh-huh,” he said. “I can see through that lie easy as pie, little sister, so don't you try that one with me.”
Lola made a face. “Don't call me that.”
“What?”
“You know... Little sister. It creeps me out.”
Gray chuckled and then winced when his nose flared up with pain. Lola looked pleased with herself.
“You know, you
are touching me right now... Aren't you scared of catching some of my lesbian germs?”
Gray looked into Lola's eyes sadly -- or tried to anyway. He still had his big hand on his nose, trying to stop the bleeding despite the steadily increasing pain, and that obscured his site a little.
“Look, Lola, about that...” he said in a low and serious voice. He wanted this apology to be as real as possible -- heartfelt, even. He'd had a lot of time to think about what he and Don had done all those years ago during the Vamp Meet. They had set fire to the castle, on Rafael and Ilsa Vella's orders. He remembered seeing the house go up in flames and hearing the terrified screams when the vampires realised what was happening as if it was yesterday.
What good had come out of following Rafael Ivanova's brutal orders? Absolutely nothing. When he was a vampire, he hadn't really minded much about seeing people get caught in the flames and turn into ashes on the spot. But once he'd been turned back, everything came crashing down upon him. Seeing his sister cry like that... He might as well have ripped his heart out and stomped on it. He had never wanted to go back to what he was before as much as he'd done then: a pair of fangs and no sign of any sort of conscience.
He was about to open his mouth again to let it all spew out of him: his explanation and how sorry he was about everything, but he was cut off by the foxy girl who'd been supposed to stay in his room. She'd come out of it, wearing one of his shirts and nothing more. It went down to her knees. She looked so hot in that, it was enough to make any man get a boner.
“Why won't you come back, baby? I'm starting to get a bit lonely.” She fiddled with her hair playfully, battering her mascara eyelashes at him. But then she stopped when she saw what was going on. Her eyes flickered up to his bleeding nose, his hand holding Lola's fist, Lola herself, who was looking as shocked to see another woman in this house as Foxy Lady was. “Honey, who's this? Why is your nose bleeding? What's going on?”
Gray glanced at Lola. Her eyes were darting from him to the girl wearing his shirt and back again. A look of pure disgust flashed over her face and she tugged her arm free of Gray's grip savagely.
“And I actually thought we could get along!” she spat before spinning around on her heel and marching out of there.
Gray wanted to stop her, wanted to tell her that he wasn't like this any more, that this had all been a misunderstanding. He wanted to tell her that he hadn't used another woman like this for years. He'd been too busy living with the guilt of what happened at the Vampire Meet to go along with his true desires...
I've changed, Lola! I've changed! This isn't what it looks like! he wanted to shout after her, but he didn't. What was the point? She wasn't going to listen to him anyway.
The one night stand -- he didn't even remember her name, he'd been so hammered last night -- rushed over to him as soon the door slammed shut behind Lola.
“You OK, baby? Shall I take you to the hospital?”
Gray swallowed. “No... I'm cool. I just... need a bag of ice, that's all.”
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