Chapter Five....Scene Four

Athena was not in a hurry as she drove down Castor Road, taking in the scenery of the town. She had liked Sereneville the moment she’d arrived in the town and had actually thought they could make a good life here. Which better place to hide from your enemy than right beside him? No one would ask questions. At least that is how she had envisioned it. But now, she realized she had been naïve. She should have known Eric and Tristan would sooner or later bump into one of the supernatural species in town.

 

 Passing the Founder’s Fountain, Athena mulled over what exactly she was going to say to Amanda. The woman would obviously want an explanation for Athena requesting that her daughter keep away from her son. Giving that explanation would be very difficult seeing as the only explanation she could give was not up for discussion. Revealing the true nature of Eric and Tristan after having zealously guarded it for so many years would not be a healthy solution for everybody involved. Athena guessed she would have to just come up with a believable lie but when she finally turned into the Taylor’s driveway, the believable lie was still very much unbelievable.

Amanda groaned when she heard the doorbell as she was just about to start grading her students’ papers. Whoever it was would just have to come back another time. She was swamped with work right now and would be leaving for the university soon. She smiled sweetly at the pretty woman standing on her doorstep.

“Good morning,” Athena said. “I’m sorry to just drop by like this but I didn’t really know what else to do. I’m Athena Xavier. I believe my son Tristan had dinner with you last night?”

“Of course, Tristan’s mom,” Amanda said, taking Athena’s proffered hand in hers. “Please come in. I’ve actually been meaning to pay you a visit but I haven’t had the time of late.” She led the way into the living room where she’d been working.

“Yes I remember Tristan mentioning something like that,” Athena said sitting down on the couch offered her. Noticing the scattered papers on the table she said, “I really hope I’m not intruding or anything.”

“Not at all,” Amanda said gathering the papers and stacking them neatly in a pile. “I was just actually finishing up. Oh how rude of me. Would you like anything to drink, some coffee or tea perhaps?”

“Coffee would be fine thank you.”

Amanda busied herself in the kitchen as Athena went over her story once more. Within minutes, Amanda was back with two steaming mugs of coffee. “I don’t mean to be presumptuous Ms. Xavier but I do hope you’ve come to talk about my offer to be a guest speaker in my class. Tristan did tell you about that right.”

“Please call me Athena and yes he did. Of course it would be my pleasure to talk to your students but unfortunately, that’s not really why I came here.” Athena set down her coffee and looked squarely into the other woman’s face. “Mrs. Taylor there’s no other way to say this so I’m just gonna come out and say it. I came here to ask you to ask your daughter to please stay away from my son.”

Amanda cleared her throat slightly, not at all sure she had just heard right. “First of all you can call me Amanda and second I’m not really sure I understand what you mean. Why would you want my daughter to stay away from your son?”

“I know this doesn’t explain it but I have my own reasons,” Athena replied.

“Your own reasons won’t matter much to my daughter Athena. I think we both know that teenagers don’t really go for those sorts of vague explanations.”

“Well then come up with your own explanation. Just make up something.”

“I have a better idea. How about you save me all that trouble and tell me exactly why you think my daughter is not good enough for your son.”

“That’s not at all what I meant. All I said…..”

“What you said and what you meant are two different things.” Amanda sighed deeply. “Listen I’m a mother too and I would probably do the same thing if I thought Jade was hanging out with someone I disapproved of but Tristan is a sweet kid and Jade really loves spending time with him. I really can’t see why you would want to separate them and you honestly can’t expect me to just accept that without a real explanation can you?”

Athena knew she was right. Matter of fact, she was impressed at how Amanda had reacted thus far. Had it been her sitting there, she would have probably blown a gasket by now. “What if I try to explain it to you? Would you be willing to help me then?”

“I would definitely try to,” Amanda replied.

“Fair enough,” Athena chuckled, her mind working overtime to hastily piece together a story. “My sister loved Eric and Tristan very much. She was their real mother not me. When she died in a car accident, her will stated she’d wanted me to have custody over them. Their father was a real mean drunk and had never really been in their lives.”

“Your sister was not a werewolf?” Amanda asked puzzled.

Athena smiled ruefully. She should have known even the powerful fragrance she wore would not be able to mask her scent. “No she wasn’t. Angeline was never really one for the supernatural stuff. She ran off with her sorry ass boyfriend when she was just seventeen and the only person she kept contact with over the years was me. Eric and Tristan were just babies when she died so they don’t remember anything about her.”

“Do they know anything about you?” Amanda asked.

Athena shook her head. “No they don’t. That was one of Angeline’s requests. She didn’t want them to have anything to do with werewolves or anything else for that matter. All she wanted was for them to live normal human lives.”

“I hate to break it to you but this town isn’t exactly the place to do that. We may have humans here but their lives are far from normal, even if they don’t know that.”

“I know and I guess I’ve been selfish that way. I just wanted to be in a place that would accept me for who I am and when I found out about this town, I just came down without a second thought.”

Amanda nodded slowly before saying, “If you don’t mind me asking why are you living on Sereneville Close?”

“I was wondering when you were gonna ask me that,” Athena said. “Angeline was a lawyer and she had saved up quite a good amount of money before she died plus my private consulting has a nice steady income so I guess I can afford living there. I know it’s strange for a werewolf to live there but it’s also safer for my boys. Werewolves are very social and I’m sure it wouldn’t have taken long for someone to slip up. Eric and Tristan are quite intuitive enough on their own. They would have figured it out. The vampires though wouldn’t dare come anywhere near us so there’s no discovery of secrets to fear there.”

“So you did think this through,” Amanda commented.

“That is except for the part where Tristan hangs out with your daughter.” Athena said. “Now you see why I can’t let that continue.”

“Wouldn’t it be just much easier to tell them? I mean what harm would that do? Knowing about you wouldn’t prevent them from living normal lives would it?”

“How much are you willing to bet it wouldn’t end there? I know Eric and Tristan like teenagers know Facebook. They would probe and poke around until they finally found out about the vampires, our mutual hatred for each other and whatever else. How exactly would they be able to live normal lives after that?”

Amanda nodded solemnly. “I know how important this must be to you and how important it must have been to your sister but I just don’t see how we can stop those two from seeing each other. Jade can be quite stubborn when she wants to and from what I’ve gathered about Tristan, so can he.”

“I can deal with Tristan,” Athena replied. “But it can only work if you tell Jade to do the same.” Seeing the hesitation in the other woman’s face she added, “I can’t do this without you Amanda. I need your help.”

Amanda was thoughtful for a moment. Would she be able to explain all this effectively to Jade? This woman really did not want her sons to find out the truth about her. She was right of course; they would never be able to live normal lives if they ever found out. “I’ll do what she can,” Amanda finally said.

“Thank you,” Athena said breathing a sigh of relief. “I know it’s a difficult thing to ask of you and I really appreciate it. If I can ever repay you in any way, just let me know.”

Amanda looked at her watch and said, “Actually my lecture starts in a little while so perhaps you could help me get some knowledge into the lead minds I teach?”

Athena laughed. “It would be my pleasure.”