CHAPTER NINE.

Scott teleported to the screaming woman in front of him without much thought about giving his identity away; something he had been trying to avoid since the moment he opened his eyes in her house. All he had just thought about at that moment was to get her to shut up. When he got to where she was, he slapped a hand over her mouth and indicated the shush tone.

"Keep quiet, will you?" He asked her in a commanding tone.

Alijah heard the automated control tone of someone asking her to keep quiet somewhere in the subconscious of her screaming. When she realized that it was the same man she had run away from, she screamed even louder into his hand which muffled her tone a little.

After she had been bitten by that vampire creature at the hospital, the truth had never gotten to her that vampires were creatures that truly exist and not just in the nighttime books. Seeing a man who had reacted the same way that white-haired man did had made her freak out of her usual controlled self.

Why wasn't the man biting her though?

When that thought finished ringing in her head, she stopped her wailing. She turned slightly to the side so that she could come eyeball to eyeballs with the man who had held her temporarily captive, with one of his hands snagging her waist and the other covering her mouth.

Scott saw that she had stopped screaming and he exhaled, "Do you promise not to scream if I let you go?" He asked her in an almost pleading tone. Not that he was scared of her screaming or the people the scream would draw in but he wasn't ready for such a hassle.

Alijah nodded her head vehemently, "Yes," she said into his palm when he didn't let her go even though she had promised him.

Scott deliberated in his mind if he should let the woman go or not. He shrugged as he thought that it would be better to invade her mind and completely calm her down, just in case she decided to act up. He focused his energy and directed it into her mind. He was surprised when he encountered a thick fog that blocked him out of her mind.

He tried again, this time, a little harder than he did before. When he still met the same fate as before, he lifted his current gray eyes at her in surprise. Somehow, her mind was able to stop his power from invading her body.

Alijah was already tired of waiting for a response from the man that kept blocking her mouth with his hand. Not just tired, she was getting uncomfortable with his hand that rested on her waist. Twice, she felt herself shivering inwardly like an invisible wind had managed to penetrate her body. She associated the emotion with just the fear she felt from the man.

But she couldn't just stand still there with him anymore. Even her cat had gotten tired of the little act they were carrying out and she had gone to lie on the only available bed in the room, patiently awaiting when they would stop. Alijah pushed the man at his belly a little forcefully so that she could free herself from his clutch. She had expected some rigidity since her captor was a man, so she was astonished when her push dislodged him.

Scott sneered when he realized that he had been so lost in thought over how a human could block him and his powers that he hadn't realized the intention of the woman. It wasn't until he felt her light push and himself letting go of her that he knew that he had lost the subconsciousness of his environment. But who wouldn't in such an unexpected situation?

More than just using mind control on her, he had ignored the risk and tried to teleport with her but neither could he teleport with her or even teleport by himself alone. Then, he had tried to get in touch with either Lucas or Arden but the communication wouldn't go beyond the room.

If his assumption was right, then, it wasn't just that the woman who was flickering her black hair was a danger to the vampire through her blood alone. It would mean that whenever any vampire was in touch with her, they would never be able to use any of their powers. To Scott, that was even more dangerous than sucking her blood.

What kind of a human was she?

To be sure he wasn't just imagining everything, since he was free from her touch, he reached out to Lucas.

"Lucas?" He called. "We have a problem." He announced.

"What is it?" Came Lucas's response immediately.

"I'll tell you later." He told the other man. Still willing to see if he was right, he tried Arden who was millions of miles away from him. "Arden?"

"Yeah?" Came the instant reply.

"Just checking on you, mate." He told Arden and cut off the communication.

He focused his eyes on the woman who was already shifting on her two legs. "Who are you?" He asked, unable to hold the question in.

Alijah took one quick snap of his entire body before she answered, "Don't you think I should be asking that question since you are in my house?" She countered back.

Scott stared at her in disbelief. He found it amusing when she stared right back at him instead of looking away as he had expected. Since he wasn't ready to blow his cover or get thrown out by her, he relaxed his tense features and looked away from her.

"Did you help me?" He asked her even though the answer glared at him in the face.

"I thought that was obvious?" She raised a brow at him, "Isn't it?"

Sassy, Scott thought with annoyance. If she was expecting a thank you from him, then she had better be prepared to wait forever since he wasn't doing anything like that in forever. If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have been caught unaware in any case. So, no, he wasn't going to be thankful to her.

When Alijah saw the man in front of her staring down at her as if they were in a contest of stares, she shrugged and went over to the bed to sit. She picked up her cat from the bed and held her in her arms. When the man refused to move from where he stood, she patted the spacious space left on the bed.

"I'm not interested," Scott announced, eyeing the bed with disdain. That was when his eyes fell on the cat she cradled. "Give me that!" He shouted and took the cat away from her clutch.

"What do you think you were doing?" She asked in disbelief. "That's my cat!"

"What do you mean she's your cat? This is my cat." Scott looked into the eyes of the cat, "Renee, what are you doing here?" He asked the cat.

The cat merely yawned and rubbed herself on the man holding her.

When Alijah saw that the cat truly belonged to the man, she went to where he was and rubbed the cat by the ears.

She tried to take the cat from the man who slapped her hands away. "How did you lose her?" She asked instead.

Scott saw an opportunity in the question that she asked. He would use the excuse of looking for his cat to explain why he had gotten injured while looking for her. He cleared his throat while he silently apologized to his sister.

"She went missing some days earlier from the car when we passed through this neighborhood. When I discovered that, I went back to look for her all around the area we had passed by." He sighed to make his story more believable. "What I didn't expect was getting attacked by someone I trusted somewhere close to your neighborhood." He finished.

"Liar." He heard his sister tell him but he simply rubbed her back.

"It was my sheet luck to have collapsed at the same house where my cat had found refuge." He told Alijah with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes or when his heart.

Alijah got closer to him and extended her hands, "Can I?" She asked, indicating the cat. She smiled when Scott dropped the cat in her hand, ignoring the way he avoided touching her like she was a plague.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that awful experience," she told him while playing with the cat. "I'm sure it was a bad experience for you." By the time she finished, she was near to tears.

"It was," Scott affirmed.

"I know it was. More than the wounds, I know the betrayal of the person you trusted would hurt you more. Believe me, I understand."

"Of course you would," Scott retorted. After all, it was human nature to betray the people they called friends and family. "Since that is human nature." He added when she looked at him in confusion.

"You must be hungry." She said and went to the door. "I'll get you something to eat." She went out the door without waiting for any word from her guest.

"Gullible humans," Scott spat out and did an exaggerated scoff. "I can't believe she fell for the lie."