AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Dude, just leave it, man.” Didn’t I just say I'd let it play out? I internally smack myself. I clap my hands together. “Okay! Let’s talk about something else.” That earns me a glare. I wince in her direction. “Sorry Boo-”
“No.” Is all she has to say. “You should find a nickname that is fit for, like, a warrior. Or a bertha. Or a woman who has been scrutinized since middle school. ‘Spaz’ seems to be a continued favorite.” She says.
“Spaz? Why Spaz?” Aavin looks at her.
“Because I can see ghosts.” She says it like she’s telling him the weather.
“That is stupid. What does Spaz even mean?” Aavin questions.
“It apparently embodies someone who dodges invisible objects and happens to have weird things happen to her.”
She stands up with her bowl and sets it on the counter. I pull the drawer open next to me and hand her the plastic wrap as she turns around to do just the same. She gives me a glare and takes it from me. She meticulously wraps her bowl and places it in the fridge. It'll never get eaten.
I grab my drink and follow her out to the living room. She sits on the couch and grabs her blanket. I sit next to her on the couch. I should do the rest of the dishes but that just sounds like a bad time.
“So, what else would you like to talk about?” Aavin asks as he walks in and takes a seat in the same arm chair.
“I’d like to marinate on the fact that you are technically an alien, who is soul bonded to me. I feel like I should be freaking out more. I mean you are a strange man in my house that I have never met before and I didn't even call the cops. That says something about my mental state right now. My mother is rolling in her urn.”
“You feel safe because your soul recognizes mine. I would hope that if some random man that came in here that wasn’t bound to you, you would have, at the very least, run out the door.”
“I feel like I should throw something at you right now.”
“What’s an urn by the way?” Aavin asks. Dana walks over to the shelf that holds Naomi's urn and presents it to him.
“Your mother is in that?” He gets up to walk over to the urn. “Why is there a lid? Does it keep her soul trapped in here? How does she find peace in the Eather?” He picks it up, “Or afterlife? Or whatever you guys call it here? If I open this lid will her soul wander this house?” He asks looking up at Dana. She loses it, she is laughing so hard that she has doubled over. I haven't seen her laugh this hard since I fell through the ceiling fixing beams in the attic a couple weeks ago. Jealousy slithers through me again. She’s taking great heaving breaths and snorting. Aavin looks bamboozled.
“It-” She can’t even get words out. “Ashes!” She stands up and she’s trying to hold her laughs in. Wiping her eyes. She gets to Aavin and slowly takes the jar from him. Sobering instantly. She caresses the lid. “I had her cremated like she wanted. Which means they burned her body. Then, they scooped her up and dumped her in a plain box to be given to me. I bought the urn…” She traces the lines of the flowers. “I had a local guy engrave the flowers. Daisies. Her favorite. ‘They are just simple and beautiful. It goes to show you don't have to be glamorous or complicated to be beautiful’. I try to remember those words every time I feel like shit. Which seems to be a lot lately.” I get up and walk over to her. Hugging her from behind. “I miss her. Everyday.” She sets the urn back on the shelf. “Her soul will not escape if you open the urn.” She huffs a laugh and sniffs. “Thank you. Aavin, even if you didn’t mean to make me laugh. I needed it.” She takes his hand and my stomach drops. She jolts and snaps her head back up to him. “What the hell was that?”
“Soul bond.” I cringe and rest my forehead on her shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. I don’t know how I’m going to get around this. I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my body every time ‘soul bond’ is brought up. Maybe…maybe, I’m thinking about this too much. Maybe, I don’t even need to be worried about it. Aavin did say he is not pursuing and Dana said she doesn’t feel it.
“Oh. Strange.” Is all she says, still holding his hand. Still staring at each other. Like I’m not even here. Just as I think that Aavin looks over at me, furrows his brow and then looks back at Dana.
“How about a movie?” I ask. Trying to break the moment they are having like the jealous bastard I’m being right now.
“Movie? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. I’ve seen plays back home but never have had the chance to watch a movie here.” I raise my brows at him. Didn’t he say that he’s been on multiple missions and spent a lot of time watching over Dana?
“Really? Even when watching me?”
“You make it sound salacious and like I was a pervert.”
“I didn’t mean that.” Dana laughs. She steps out of my arms and heads back over to the couch to find the remote. I follow her over and sit down. She grabs the remote and I grab her hips sitting her down next to me. Aavin sits in the chair he has seemed to claim. Watching us for a moment before turning toward the TV. We surf the shows and movies in silence until we pick one out we can both mildly agree on. Were about thirty minutes in before Dana fell asleep. Leaning on my shoulder with my arm wrapped around her.
“I’m not going to take her from you.” I hear Aavin say. I look over at him and really look at him.
“I don’t think you’ll have a choice in the end. Soul bonds sound pretty serious.” I say, trying to be nonchalant, trying not to show how fucked up I am over it.
“It’s not something that will make us lose our minds. No one I have ever known has and I have been around for a long time. The bond just links us, they are our perfect match in every way. She would be soft to my hard, calm to my chaos. That is how it is for every other soul bond. Do I want the bond? Yes.” I stare at him, waiting for him to continue. Grinding my teeth into dust at this point. “But I don't think it will ever happen. One, she doesn’t even feel it. That may change with time but I have never heard of someone not feeling their soul bond, when the other certainly does. Second, my people hate Earth. You guys aren’t known for being a peaceful species. You know, we have never warred with our own people. Yes, we have some crime but we don't war over oil, land and religious beliefs. We have only warred with other realms and worlds that have tried to invade us. One of the most backstabbing moments my world has ever experienced was with Earth.” Aavin shakes his head. “I mean to say, I don’t want to bring her into that. Where people might hate her for where she was raised. Regardless of bloodlines. It seems she has enough on her plate right now. I don’t want to add to it. I will say though, and I am just telling you, so that if it does happen ever, the only time I would be possessive would be when the bond first snaps into place.”
“And that is by sex I assume?” I ask
“That or if something were to happen that would take her from me. Like death. Her soul and my soul would reach for each other and I would share my soul, my life with her. I would be forced but she would live through whatever happened. Soul bonds share life spans. One cannot live without the other. They die of a broken heart. Ones who have survived their other half dying, lead a half life. Sometimes couples who have children can hold on better, if the kids are still of rearing age.” He pauses, “I have heard of couples on Earth who have been together for decades and when one passes the other follows. That’s how it is for us.” He smiles sadly, staring off into the fire.
“What if she wants it? Would you give it to her?”
“I don’t know. I’m not a good male, no matter how you think this conversation may make me look to you.” He raises his brow at me, like he’s trying to drive a point home. “To be honest, I’m not someone who deserves the love of a soul bond. I have killed hundreds over my many years. I have done terrible things to ensure the safety of my people and I will continue to do so. I’m an angry and selfish being. I’m only a little different around her.” He nods towards Dana’s sleeping form. “I have killed men here, like Bogess. I ripped his spine out of him. Traitorous bastard.” Bogess, that sounds familiar. Then it dawns on me.
“Bogess…the old owner?” I scoff, “Of this house? We were in the process of figuring out what happened in this house and who lived in it. He was on the list.”
