A Clash From the Past
Dementres
[email protected]
Disclaimer: nothing belongs to me, though I wouldn’t mind...hehe
Spoilers: Prolly all the books, and this is going to b a/e guys, so don’t like?
Don’t read.
Just one thing, Anita and Micah are not together and the kitties have moved in
w/ him, Richard hasn’t talked to Anita since the arduer flared up and Anita
refuses to talk to Jean Claude cuz he lied about
Daimen. The arduer is gone; it was truly gone after chimera incident. It’s been
about 6 months since the end of the last book. Anita is chaste once again. I'll
repeat this in the story somehow.
ANTIA'S POV:
Here I am sitting on my porch looking up at the night sky. The waning moon
looked like it was trying to wink at me, and probably was considering the hell
I've been though the past six months after Chimera's death.
Tonight was my first night off since then also; Bert was over working me again.
Seven raisings per night was a lot, even for me. It was partially my own fault;
I was trying to avoid the boys. All three of them. It wasn't hard staying
away from Richard; he didn’t want anything to do with me either. I missed our
nights of just sitting together and watching TV. I missed our late night hikes
too, but I couldn’t think of that right now. I'd start crying again if I did. I
believe that I had truly loved him before everything happened; now it was
nothing but a spoiled mess. Shit!! I so did not want to think about...him.
Sighing I looked back up at the stars and wished that I wasn’t in this mess. As
a tear slid down my cheek I thought of Raimerez's advice and that he had been
right. I couldn’t choose between the men in my life because none of them was
the right man for me. Now if I could only figure out who was.
I felt something stir the night air. I rolled out of my chair and behind it
quickly pulling my browning as I went aiming for the bushes off to my right. A
soft chuckle pierced the night air and I knew who was there. Edward.
I hadn’t seen him since Santa Fe. I wondered what brought him to my neck of the
woods. I was hoping for a social call but Edward didn’t pay me those. Whatever
he was doing here, I was sure I really didn't want to know.
EDWARDS POV:
"What do you mean you're going to St. Louis?!" Shouted Donna,
"If you walk out of this house you are not coming back Ted! I mean it! The
kids will miss you but I will not willing allow you to cheat on me!!"
Cheat on her? Now that's a laugh, especially with whom she's implying. I made
my eyes go sad and my voice sound defeated, still with that touch of honey to
it as Ted pleaded, "Honeypot! Please believe me! I am not cheating on
you!! I would never do such a thing! How many times do I have to tell you that
she is just a friend?!"
Chuckling to myself I thought; Ted might not cheat but in all honesty, Edward
would. Had in fact and I hadn’t indulged in too long a time. It
wasn’t with the person she thought it was. Anita is the one person she never
had to worry about, much to my disappointment.
"I wish I could believe you Ted, but I can’t. You called out her name
while you slept last night!! How in the name of Hell am I suppose to believe
you after that?! If you go, we are finished. I still love you but I just can't
do it Ted!" As Donna said the last she broke down into tears, and turned
away. "Just go. I...I... GO!!"
I was stunned, well and truly stunned though I didn't let it show. Shaking my
head slowly I walked back to the bedroom we've shared and gathered my stuff. I
was proud of her; the therapy was definitely helping her acquire a backbone.
This also let me off the hook; I’d been desperately trying to think of a way to
leave without hurting her or the kids. That was the reason why I was going to
see Anita in the first place, I had had a plan and wanted her idea on it. This
out burst had solved that problem, but I still had to see Anita. It had been
too long.
Chuckling softly to myself I thought that I might just pay her a social call,
it'd be the first but I think it'd be fun. If not to just keep her on her toes.
I loved to bug Anita, it was one of my favorite pastimes and I hadn’t indulged
in a long time. Swiftly exiting the house, stopping only long enough to hug the
kids bye, I climbed into my Hummer and took off for St. Louis. A smile crossed
my face briefly before I suppressed it; it wouldn’t do to show how much I was
looking forward to seeing Anita again. I'd lied to her when she asked if I’d
ever had any romantic thoughts about her. I have, many times. I have hopes that
one day she'll see me as I see her.
Pulling up to a little less than a mile from Anita's, I got out and jogged to
her house. The lights were out but her car was in the drive. I quickly picked
the lock and started to make a cursory inspection of the house when I noticed
her sitting outside starring up at the sky. My heart gave a jerk as I saw a
tear slide down her face. It had to be about one of her boys. Sighing softly to
myself I made my way out the front door and crept around the side of the house.
Standing there for a few minutes staring at her before I made a small movement
that would catch her attention.
I saw Anita jump from her chair and hide behind it and I couldn’t stop the soft
chuckle from escaping. I could have killed her five times over by now, not that
I would.
"You can come out of hiding now Anita, I’m not here to hurt you."
"At least not tonight. Hmmm, Edward?" Anita quipped back, sarcasm
dripping from her words.
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. She always could surprise a laugh from me. Her
eyes widened, I knew the laugh had startled her and that almost caused me to
laugh again. It really had been too long.
"It's been too long Edward," Anita said softly as she climbed back
into her chair. I was stunned to hear her echo my thoughts, though it shouldn’t
have surprised me. She did it a lot. "Take a seat, I don’t want to strain
my neck trying to look up at you." she said smiling softly at me. I wanted
to brush my lips to hers to erase the hurt I saw there. I wanted to know what
it was and if possible, kill it.
Sighing to myself I took the seat next to her, my eyes their normal icy stare.
It was a mask I hid behind, I've dropped it for her in the past but I couldn’t
tonight. She wouldn’t have liked or understood what she saw. If she wouldn’t
have hurt me, I would’ve hid her from the world. She was a rare and priceless
treasure that I could stare at but not touch and it hurt me that she was
unhappy.
DONNA’S POV:
Oh how I wanted to rip his head off and shove it up his ass. I still
can’t believe he lied to me. He had to be lying. Why else would he
keep going to visit, her. I was so into my brooding that I barely
registered the doorbell ringing. Rushing over to the door I pulled it
open and stared open mouthed at the man who stood there. “M…M…May I…I
help you sir?” I stuttered. Mentally cursing myself for my lack of
grace. I was just torn up inside about Ted, completely and utterly
flabbergasted about his deceit.
“Donna Parnell, I assume.” The soft voice of the stranger said. I
suppressed a shiver as his voice felt like a cool wind brushing against my
neck.
“And who would you be?” I asked in a haughty tone, slightly embarrassed
by my reactions to him.
“Casper, miss.” Casper? Oh, that was too funny.
“And how would I know you?”
“Actually you don’t, but your fiancé does. I’m an old…college
buddy. I’ve been trying to track him down for years.”
“Well he doesn’t live here any more. That’s for sure.”
“Oh, and might I ask why that is?”
“The damn man was cheating on me, with her.”
“Who?”
“Miss fucking Anita Blake. That’s who.”
“Ah. Sorry for your loss ma’am.”
“It’s alright. Say, can I get you some coffee or tea?”
“No thanx ma’am, but if you hear from… Ted… don’t mention me. I want to
surprise him.”
“Alright, it was nice meeting you Casper.” What a strange man, I thought
as I closed the door behind him. I hope he would find Ted.
Casper’s POV:
Oh that was lucky. Extremely lucky. I can’t believe she fell for
the ol’ college buddy act. I even stuttered a little, I rarely stutter,
but she was a beauty. I can see what Edward saw in her. She
has a…cleanness, a vitality that shines though her. To think that he was
cheating on such a beauty, and with the Executioner to boot. Now that’s a
lady I wouldn’t mind hunting, I assume she’d make fair game. Too bad I’m
just going to have to hurt her instead. Edward will get a kick out it!
First off I have to get her address, shouldn’t be too hard. Everyone
knows who she is. I’ll just give ol’ Bernardo a call. Now
that was one guy who should never have passed though Van Cleef’s school.
He was one weird guy, never got along with anybody and the all the females
wanted his blood. Too bad we can’t hurt each other unless we’re given a
go ahead. I’m still surprised that Van Cleef is allowing me to finally
take my vengeance.
It’s a good thing that Bernardo lives fairly close. I hate driving
cross-country; he’s only five hours from here.
Five hours later, he arrives at Bernardo’s house.
I can’t believe this guy actually lives near a reservation. I know he’s
got a bit of indian in him but jeez. It looks like he is home, good thing
to I’d hate to have to try and track him down. Knocking on the door and
waiting for him to answer only takes a few.
“Hello Bernardo, long time no see.”
“Couldn’t have you made it any longer Casper?”
“No.” I answered icily. “I need some info. I’m willing to pay.”
“What kind of info?” He asked warily.
“I need to know where to find someone named Anita Blake.”
“Shit! You want to know where the Executioner lives?!”
“That’s the gist of it, yeah.”
“Holy shit, why?”
“Need to know only, and you were trained better than that!”
“Too true. The only thing I know about her is that she lives in St.
Louis”
“Can you find anything else out for me. Like maybe an address of some
sort?” I am rapidly losing my patience with him. I know he can find
out just about anything he wants.
“Sorry old friend, I’ve already tried to track her down before. There are
some many codes blocking her info, that it’s ridiculous.”
“Why so many codes?” I wonder if Edward has anything to do with it.
“There is a rumor that the Undertaker has an interest in her and if he encoded
the info, there is no way that I’d be able to break it.”
“True. Thanx, and if you find anything you know how to find me.”
Edward’s POV:
“What have you been up to lately?” I asked softly.
“What? What? Don’t you know?” Anita quipped back.
Chuckling lightly I began to recount the events that happened with Chimera and
her boys.
Shaking her head, Anita laughed softly, “I should’ve known better. Why’d
you even ask if you knew?”
“I don’t know all of it Anita. I’m not sure what you’ve been doing these
past 6 months or all the personal details that was involved with the
ardeur. I do know that you seem sad tonight. What’s the matter
Anita? Talk to me.”
I was worried about her. Yeah I kind of knew what happened, just not all
the details. I had to cover a lot of her tracks so some of Van Cleef’s
men couldn’t find out.
“I was just thinking that I don’t want to be with any of the guys in my life.
I’ve been avoiding Jean Claude for a while and I’ve kicked Micah and the
leopards out of the house, set them up in their own. Jean Claude and
Micah are giving me room but I think they resent the fact that I’m avoiding
them.”
“What about Richard?”
Laughing harshly she murmered, “What about the basterd?”
Ok, I wasn’t expecting that. What did the furball do to my soulmate?
“Anita.” I said warningly.
Sighing she complied and told me about how he walked out because she accidently
used the ardeur on him and how he could of stopped her if you truly wanted
to. It pissed me off that he blamed her, it was clearly his and that
damned vampires fault.
“It was furball’s and fang face’s fault Anita not…damnit. Hello?”
Answering the phone, Bernardo launched into a big spill about something.
“Slow down Bernardo.”
“Casper came by and asked for info on Anita. I told him that I couldn’t
get any information except that she lived in St. Louis because her files where
incripted and that there was a rumor that you where the one to do the
encripting.”
“Shit Bernardo, I do not want to deal with Casper.”
“Why does he have a grudge against you anyway?”
“None of your business.” I replied in as cold of a voice as I could
manage. I didn’t want him to know that it was over some stupid girl.