The couch was comfortable, almost too much so. Eva hunched forward, tapping her nails along the glass in short rhythms. Her fingers alternated through the pattern until the noise because too dizzying. She paused to sigh, bringing the glass to her lips with both hands to down the remainder of it. Shakily she set the empty glass on a stack of milk crates serving as a side table. She leaned forward, watching Jasper move throughout the kitchen unconcerned with Angel’s leering glare and animalistic posture. She flinched as he froze when the vampire leaned in and threatened him. Biting her tongue, she closed her eyes to try and ignore the virtual action thriller emerging in their kitchen. She had had enough of their feeding today. Derek had never been so aggressive. What had changed? She rubbed at her eyes and sighed, looking over towards Jasper again to see him portioning his cooking of the day. He looked over his shoulder at her, smiling weakly. Eva smiled back, trying to convey that she was worried for him, that she cared for him. They had become close since she had joined the coven as a pet. He had taught her so much. Now she wished she could help him, defend him, tell Angel off. But they had no right. This was what they had signed up for after all. But Angel was always the most imposing. The more Eva spent time around her, the more she felt like the Italian vampire was the most…vindictive. Then again, they all could be that way. Derek had certainly shown her that today.
“Eva, your meal's on the side here,” Jasper explained. Eva shook her head before nodding, her cloudy mind tuning into his words. She saw the plate he had left for her and she smiled wider, licking her lips. “Thank-you,” she smiled. “Will you excuse us for a few minutes?” he asked gently. Eva shrugged and looked away then, knowing he was being polite but recognizing that he was also heading to a separate room with Angel alone. It was unsettling today to know that. She couldn’t say why. She had never thought of it in that way before. Her lack of comment had Jasper gesturing to Angel for them to head for their bedrooms, his endearing nature continuing. Eva sincerely hoped his pleasantries would buy him a more favorable experience.
Eva stood up clumsily, tucking the blanket around her shoulders tighter, and walked back into the kitchen as the two exited. She could hear the hum of Angel’s verbal licking as the two proceeded to private room and she continued to feel unnerved as she claimed her dinner, a fork, and the remainder of the jug of orange juice from the fridge. She didn’t want to be out in the open. She felt exposed. So slowly she moved to the stairs and taking them slowly she managed to make her way back up stairs. In thought she verbalized her every motion to keep herself focused and her hearing focused on the mental sound of her voice and not the noises of anyone else.
When she got to her door she was thankful and when she closed it behind her she felt relieved. The sight of all of Derek’s gifts again was somewhat overwhelming and she set the juice and her dinner on her bed, taking the time to clear a spot on her nightstand and to set his most recent unopened gift aside. She moved around her room slowly still, turning on an old TV set on a nightstand on the opposite side of her bed and booting up an old DVD player. She pulled out a digital copy of one of her favorite black and white films – the 1964 version of My Fair Lady. Eva had always been a sucker for classic films but for some reason the story called to her. As she hit play she moved back to her bed, propping herself up against the wall with her dinner in her lap to eat and watch, keeping the volume loud enough to drown anything she didn’t want to hear without being so loud that Adonis could hear it word for word – something he had complained about on occasion. She had to wonder absently where everyone was as the opening credits rolled, and moreover what mood they were in.