Episode 10: "Cutting Ties Pt. 1."

The procedure was fairly simple, although by the end of it all, Alicia felt whoosy. It wasn't everyday you suddenly had your blood drained. Usually you had to get proper rest and make sure your vitals were right before you gave blood. She realized she had done none of that. Too stressed from her parents ordeals and then what happened at the job, when all was said and done, she blacked out.

Christian carried her over to his bed. He pulled back his covers and laid her down. He pulled them over her and moved a strand of hair out of her way. He sat down beside her then and looked away, his eyes wandering around his room. They rested on the fresh pack of blood that she had just given him.

He darted over to the blood bag and stuck the needle connected to it in his arm. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. The human-ness of it all. All her nutrients, good or bad his body did not care. Normal human diseases did not affect him. It felt--no, it was a cleansing for him. His lips formed into a gleeful smile, one of a child's. He felt warm. Loved. Cherished. He snapped open his eyes in alarm and looked to Alicia who slept soundly.

Since when did a person's blood, any blood for that matter make him feel this way? Delilah's didn't come close. Nor did Alice, but each woman's blood flowing through him did have an affect on him. He realized that now. Alice's was, familiar. Delilah's was refreshing. Alicia's was...dare say, motherly? Innocent. Pure.

He looked down at the liquid that pumped into his arm. So this was Alicia June's blood. He'd be sure to remember these feelings it gave him, as he really didn't have a happy childhood. There was no abuse. But he didn't remember any real love either.

***

 Alicia awoke in a groggy state.

Immediately she felt warm hands upon her neck.

She jumped in a fright.

"It's all right." He said.

She looked at Christian. She was seeing him in twos. "I'm dizzy. I'm seeing you in twos." She fell back onto the pillow.

"I know. You blacked out soon after the procedure was done." He mentally scolded himself. He wasn't thinking to heal her right after they were finished. "I'll heal you now."

"How are you gonna--" She jolted some and then fell back asleep.

Though he was healing all of her fatigue and sluggishness, for her body to fully replenish the blood loss she had to sleep once again.

He kept his hand on her neck, preferably on her pulse a bit longer, and then removed his hand.

He stared at her, wondering what he should do. He frowned. There was a lot he could be doing, starting with figuring out where she was going to be sleeping. Moving her things from one place to another. Getting her own place. When it was time. There was no rush now. Her uniform.

Uniforms.

He went over to his office area and pulled back a drawer of his desk. He pulled out a brochure and then came and set it down on on the nightstand next to his bed. He eyed her purse and whoosed over to it. He pulled out her cellphone. It had rang throughout the night, but he wasn't going to get it. She had five voicemails and missed calls. And there were three text messages awaiting to be read. He placed her phone on the nightstand as well, and hooked his charger to it. It was at 28 percent.

It was only 9 in the morning. He went over to his sofa and sat down. He opened up his laptop and typed in moving trucks. He stopped what he was doing and went over to his desk then. He pulled out his checkbook. He scribbled $4000 in the amount to be paid and signed his name. Tearing it, he set that on the nightstand too.

He went back to the sofa when he froze again.

Food.

She would need it.

But he didn't cook. Well he could. It's just that he rarely did it. At least at home. It made him feel lonely always eating for one. He gave his head a mental shake.

He looked back at her. What would she like? And when would she wake up for that matter? He wouldn't have food just sitting there getting cold.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. And she thought she was the one going crazy? He thought about her blood and how it was a new feeling she had unexpectedly given him.

Love and warmth. Friendship. Kindness.

Not even Alice's could do that. And he did love her.

Delilah's was cool and submissive.

Waffles. She seemed like a waffle kind of girl. If she wasn't up by the afternoon, he could always take her out some place. He'd give her the day off. Maybe the even the next two. She would need time to adjust.

***

Alicia's eyes opened. She sat up. A bit of dizziness hit her, but she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Exhaling, the feeling left her.

"It's one in the afternoon."

She looked to where Christian was.

He leaned against the bedpost, hands in his pockets.

"You haven't changed." She said, taking in all his muscles and abs.

"I know. Perhaps the author making this story is forgetting the most basic details."

"Huh?" Alicia said.

"Nothing. I'll shower. How do you feel?"

"Out of it. Healthy. But out of it. And hungry. No, empty...I don't know..."

"Those feelings are natural." He said. "You have nothing to wear. You need to shower and get out of those clothes."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious." She said in a sarcastic tone. "Now, how?" She cocked her head to the side. "I have to go home--crap!! What time is it! My parents are gonna freak...oh..." Alicia remembered her situation. "Oh!" she shook her head and placed a hand over her eyes. "Can you hand me my purse?"

"Phone's next to you. Charging."

She looked to her left and saw her phone, brochure, and a check. She picked up the check first. Her stomach did leaps and bounds on the inside, but her face was one of composure, almost. She eyed him.

"It's yours." He said. "It has nothing to do with your work. Use that how you see fit. Getting new clothes, or saving for a down payment."

"Down payment?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Deposit, whatever you call it for an apartment."

She smirked. "Are you normally like this?"

"No, no I'm not. I'm normally very composed." He ran his fingers through his hair.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Alicia's smirk turned to a small smile. "It's okay to be a little loose. No human being should be so tightly wound up all the time."

He looked at her. She had just called him 'human' and whether she realized that or not he wasn't going to correct her. He smiled a little. "Up and at it, Alicia. We have quite a lot to do. You can start by checking your messages on your phone. Judging from how cruel your parents are being I doubt they'll be nice."

"Don't remind me." Alicia said, putting in her pin to unlock it. The five calls were from her parents. She tapped on her voicemails and braced herself. She'd read the texts after.

***

She placed the phone down by her leg. Placing a hand on her mouth and took a deep breath. She blew out, and her eyes watered. Yes, she was set. She'd be taken care of. She'd be able to take care of herself, but her parents. They all but disowned her now.

Hey Alicia. Hope you got my text. Your father and I decided to have you out by this Sunday. So you better think fast.

Hey! I don't know where you are, but just make sure when you do come it's to pack up the rest of your things and leave, Alicia.

Hey Alicia. I don't know if you know what time it is, but hey, your an adult. If you want to stay out all night rather than come home and attend to important matters than so be it. Most of your stuff is packed in boxes and is sitting outside. Come get them or someone else will.

So I hope you have a place to go. Sunday is two days from now.

Hey. Hopefully your up and doing what you got to do. Just saying that your father and I will be out all morning and will be back around 3. Your stuff is still outside so I'd hurry and come over to get them. You have some nice things, Alicia. It be a shame if they were stolen. Okay. I love you. Bye.

The texts were more or less the same.

She cupped her face and broke down.

Christian had showered and left her to herself. He came out of the bathroom, buttoning up a black shirt. He did an eye roll. "Now what are you crying for?"

She shook her head.

It wasn't like he didn't hear the messages on her phone. His hearing exceeded that of animals.

Finished buttoning up his shirt, he walked over to her and moved her hands from her face.

"No..." she shook her head. "You wouldn't understand." She placed her hands on her face again.

"I wouldn't? My parents practically disowned me as well."

She swallowed and sniffed.

"I had to fend for myself. Learn everything myself. From having this house built, to running the business that I own. To investing in other venues. All of this came from my hand and mine alone. No family helped me, Alicia. I had nothing."

"Nothing." She scoffed. "You have your powers for one. That put's a step ahead of everyone. How fast you move, you can be in out of a bank vault in seconds. Thousands of cash in your hands!"

"You implying I stole everything?"

"No, but it be easy to."

"You're right. Everything I have would have been all too easy to achieve through deceit. I could have easily done it. At times I had to."

"Oh?"

"Compulsion." He said. "Control people's actions for a brief moment in time."

"So you forced people to do what you want!"

"If you call a warehouse keeper having to open the garage for a night so I can sleep in it bad, then okay then. Other than that, I didn't feel okay bribing hotel managers or rich businessmen."

"But didn't you? How'd you get where you are without using your powers on someone!"

"Academics come easy to me. I have many degrees in business, marketing, and finance. I'vd dabbled in everything from architecture to fashion. It's easy for my mind to grasp concepts and ideas. It's even easier to excute my own visions and theories and capitalize on them from hungry investors. I myself am one. But I rarely give into anything I deem unworthy. That happens to be most businesses today. So I keep my money to myself."

"At least you have money." She said.

"As I said. None of it came easy. Sure, my family comes from it. But one look at me, I didn't even get a chance to get half of it. Only left me 25,000 grand. That's it."

"That's not even enough to get through college today." She scoffed.

"No, it's not. But back then it was cheaper.  But it still wouldn't be enough on top of expenses, so I took out loans. I knew I'd be able to pay them back." He sat down on the bed.

"Who put of their name for them, if you had nothing?"

Alicia saw his eyes dim some.

"My sister."

She rose her eyes some.

"She had a bank of her own, but I didn't want to get involved with her that much. So I just used her name. She agreed, if I paid her back with interest."

Alicia blew out.

"Yeah. You could imagine. But I paid her off within a few years. Naturally she wanted to get even and get more of my money, but," he chuckled, "I put a stop to that. Very quickly. Paid her enough and then threatened that if she kept messing with me she'd be in a lot of pain."

Alica smiled some. "That's nice. But that doesn't help me."

Christian picked up his check that he had given her. "What do you call this?"

"A check."

"Right. It's a check for $4000 dollars. Money you can do whatever you want with. Just don't spend it foolishly."

"But Christian that only goes so far."

"You're getting this a month. That's $48,000 a year. You do know you can put yourself through school with this amount."

"Assuming I'm using it just for that. There's my apartment, and bills and....and..." She blew out. "It's not like you're going to be supporting me with this. You pay me money. I pay you blood. What happens in between is on me, right?"

"It's on both of us. Your blood was very nourishing to me. In order to keep you healthy and stable, that means you need to be stress free. If money is an issue, than you can relax. I'll take care of you."

She shook her head. "I don't deserve that. I don't even know you. We hardly know each other."

"Survival, Alicia."

She looked to him. Her own words coming back to her. The need to survive.

"Use me. My resources." He said. "That's what you plan on doing right? Using me to get your own place? Perhaps even a better job. You don't have to stay at the cafe. Just as long as we stay in communication."

She gave him a look.

"I'm sure, if you do go to school, other things will interest you. Being a maid at a cafe forever? I would hope not. Consider that place my nesting ground for potential canidates. At least here. That's how I met Delilah. She applied. Seemed really enthusiastic. I thought why not. Now I'm really thinking 'why'? And not." Christian shook his head.

Alicia laughed.

"Okay?" He said.

She nodded. "Oh and uh, I don't want to consider this a 'using' kind of relationship. I don't want to use you. Not like that."

He smiled some. "I'm your boss. Use the money that I pay you to do what you want."

"And if I need help in some other financial area?"

"Then save up." He said.

She gave him a look.

"Why don't you just come out and say you want me to support you in all your financial endeavors?"

Alicia looked away. "It uh, wouldn't hurt."

"So you are using me?"

"It's not intended!!" she yelled.

"Hmph. But it is. Just a little bit. You're giving me blood though."

"Blood that you can get from anyone. Anywhere." She said.

"True. But I chose you."

"And if I choose another? How will that help? Would you support me then if I belonged to someone else?"

"We've talked about that." he got up and turned away from her.

"Yeah, and you're not happy about it."

"Why would I be? The last two girls weren't thinking of leaving me. Or rather, weren't such overthinkers."

Alicia shrugged her shoulders. "Its who I am. Especially now where every little step counts since I have the meanest parents on earth."

"Wait till you meet mine."

"Oh?"

"Assuming you do. Most likely it will happen. No matter how much I'll wish to shield you from them." Christian said. "Wash up the best you can. There's a new toothbrush on the sink and a wash cloth. Make due with the clothes you have on. A moving truck will be here in about twenty minutes. We'll drive over to your place and back up your things."

"Okay." She said.

"By the way, while we're out, decide which bank you'll want to open an account with."

"Crap! I completely forgot about that! Here I am trying to find places and stuff and didn't even have a bank account!"

He chuckled. "Well get to it then."

That's what happens when your stressed Alicia! You forget the most basic necessities! she thought.

Well, not anymore. For however long she was with Christian, she'd make the best of him. His time. His money. Himself. If he wanted friendship that is. But she wasn't closing herself off to just him. She could meet anyone out there and just because there arrangement was so unique didn't mean she couldn't meet someone else. Date someone else.

This in mind she got out of bed and nearly fell. She gripped the bed for support. Moving slowly. A little guilt racked her brain. Christian despite his composure was lonely. She saw it in his eyes twice already when she mentioned seeing other people. Maybe she was the one for him and maybe not, but she wasn't going to overstep her boundaries. Not for him or herself. If she loved him, then all that would change. But so far she didn't. He was just a really kind dude. Generous actually. Too generous but he was not a fool. She wondered how much he was worth as she went into the bathroom and used it.

Probably a lot. She thought.