All of the standard disclaimers apply... This story is mine, don't use it without permission. If it is illegal for you to read this story then don't (although there is no sex in this chapter!), and if you dislike homosexuality... well I can't imagine what you are doing reading this in the first place.
Alex's point of view:
I was nervous going to pick up Kat, we were late... Kat hated late. Although, if Kat were ever on time for anything I would start looking for snowballs in hell. By the time we reached the party my nerves were completely gone. I looked up at the large Victorian mansion, lights in all of the windows, music blaring from who knows how many speakers. This was home, or as close to home as I had ever had. To me, home was Kenna. Kennedy Anne Brent, the girl who had saved me, brought me back from the dead.
My mind went back to that day, it was a bittersweet memory, life and death all rolled up into fifteen minutes. I was just thirteen, sitting in the back of my parent's SUV, listening to them argue. They were always fighting, yelling and screaming and leaving me with whoever would take me in so that they didn't have to deal with me. It was my birthday. That day one of my mother's cousins was the lucky recipient of one very confused thirteen year old boy... or rather, she was supposed to be. My father had turned to look at my mother, yelling something about how she always turned everything into a Greek tragedy. He didn't see the other car until it was too late. He tried to wrench the wheel to the side but it didn't do any good. In fact, it probably made things worse. There was a loud screaming noise, and the world turned upside down... then there was the darkness. The thick black darkness that felt like Jello... I tried to claw my way free but it wasn't any use.
I'm not sure how long I was out for, but when the darkness started to recede I felt a stabbing pain in my chest. I opened my eyes but I couldn't see anything, and that scared me. I heard people but they all sounded far off... hazy... like a dream. I tried to speak but my voice wouldn't work. Why couldn't I talk, why couldn't I see anything, and then the pain ripped through me again and I knew. I was going to die. I took one last halting breath through the pain, and then I let go. I began to drift, and the pain started to fade. It was almost completely gone when I felt it. Something warm and wet hitting my face, like raindrops... no, not raindrops, tears. And I heard it, sobbing... definitely sobbing... and the words, the words that brought me back from the darkness. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare die on me!"
I found out later that it was a busy day for ambulances, that it had taken the paramedics a while to arrive. The first person to get to the SUV after the wreck had been seventeen year old Kennedy Brent. It had come to a stop in her yard, resting upside down against a gigantic oak tree. She had smelled the gasoline and pulled me free of the wreck, my parents were already dead... they hadn't been wearing seatbelts. She held me to her chest on her front porch, crying, and waiting for help to arrive. If she hadn't pulled me free I would have still been inside of the car when the gasoline caught fire. I would have died that day, my thirteenth birthday. I shook my head to clear the memories and nearly ran up the steps and through the front door. As I spotted Kenna across the room another memory flashed through my mind. The day I was released from the hospital, the words she spoke as she held my hand on the ride home. "When you save someone's life you make yourself responsible for that person. You belong to me now Alex, and you will always have a home."
Demon's point of view:
I watched as the troubled expression cleared itself from Alex's face. He walked into the party like he owned the place, which was unusual for Alex. But then, he practically did own the place. It was Kenna's house, and it was understood that anything that Kenna had also belonged to Alex. Kat and I followed him in, nodding to people as we passed. I let the strong, primal beat of the music flow through me. I let it fill me caress me. Kat moved off and slid smoothly from group to group as I leaned back against a wall in the corner of the room. That was the main difference between us, Kat wanted company and I just wanted to be left alone. I watched as Alex bounded across the room towards Kenna, smiling that heartbreakingly sweet puppy dog grin. I love watching Alex when he's like this, the human incarnation of Tigger. Everyone loved Alex, it was impossible not to. Alex was sweetness and light, calm... cool... soothing, Alex was peace. You couldn't stay mad at Alex, couldn't yell at him, couldn't hurt him... it would be like kicking a puppy... breaking a promise to a toddler. He was simple, his emotions showing easily on his expressive face. I wished for just a moment that I could be like Alex, that I could be so easily made happy by a hug or a smile. I watched as Kenna wrapped her arms around him and gave him an Eskimo kiss. His face lit up like the sunrise and I watched people look at him and begin to smile. Even I, depraved cynical bastard that I am, smiled.
When Alex first told me about his childhood I was shocked and somewhat disbelieving. How could anyone, especially his own parents, treat Alex that way. And, after all of that, how had Alex turned out like... well Alex. When he introduced me to Kenna I understood. The peace that was Alex had been formed by the safety that was Kenna. I remember my mother telling me that everything was going to be okay, I also remember that I never quite believed her. When Kenna said that everything was going to be okay everyone believed her. In the same way that people didn't say no to Kat, people didn't argue with Kenna. She was so sure of herself. Kenna believed, and she swept the rest of us right along with her.
Kat's point of view:
I spotted Alex talking to Kenna and I excused myself from the group of people I had been sitting with to go and say hello to our hostess. I had instinctively liked Kenna from the first moment that we met. I didn't normally spend much time with other women, they didn't like me and I didn't like all of the drama. Kenna was different. Her face reminded me of a Raphael Madonna. All bright blue eyes and smooth clear skin, a vision of serenity. She was beautiful, but not sexual. While Demon exuded sex, Kenna exuded love. As I walked up behind Alex Kenna spotted me and held out her arms. I normally didn't like it when people touched me, and heaven help anyone who touched me without permission, but Kenna's arms always felt like home. I ducked my head to kiss her cheek and smiled as she tucked my hair behind one of my ears. Even in the middle of a loud party there was a sea of calm surrounding Kenna. She looked around the room for a moment, and her eyes settled on Demon. He was leaning against the far wall, his languid pose ruined by the look of concentration in his eyes as he watched us. Only Demon could manage to look so utterly alone in a crowd... so utterly alone and comfortable with it. There were times when I thought that he really didn't care, but then something would flash across the back of his eyes... something hurt... something lonely... something scared. I was glad when Kenna smiled at us and moved towards Demon, leaving Alex and I to sit on a nearby sofa. If anyone could pull Demon outside of himself it was Kenna.
Demon's point of view:
I watched as Kat walked up to Alex and Kenna and was wrapped in a hug. Only Kenna would take Kat into her arms without a moments hesitation, Kenna who never feared rejection. I saw her lift her head, her eyes meeting mine, and I was lost for a moment in a sea of blue. Then she was moving towards me. She moved gracefully for her size, a few inches shorter than Kat... and a good deal larger. I wouldn't call her fat, just... solid. She was everyone's ideal mother. Her voice was honey smooth, her skin soft and clear, her eyes full of compassion. She was oatmeal cookies, and bedtime stories, and she scared the hell out of me. Those eyes of hers didn't miss anything, she saw me... all of me. I avoided speaking with her when I could, she wouldn't let me hide. At the same time I couldn't completely stay away. Her acceptance was a soothing balm upon an old wound. I shifted uncomfortably as she reached me, avoiding her eyes. She wasn't having any of it, she took my face in both of her hands and kissed me gently on the tip of my nose. Her hands slid down and slipped around my wrists and she was pulling me away from the wall, pulling me towards the sofa where Alex and Kat sat. I looked down into her eyes and I smiled... a rare genuine smile. I didn't have to be alone. I could sit with the three of them. I could bask in Alex's peace, and Kenna's serenity, and Kat's strength of will. "We're a family." Kenna whispered as she pulled me down to sit between her and Alex. "You're stuck with us."