Palindrome

Do not respond to that.

The voice hit my brain with force. I listened to it, took another step back, and met the man`s eyes. It couldn’t be anyone other than William`s father; they had the same eyes and smile. The hair colour was also similar, the older Adamson keeping it shorter than his son.

This one has embraced all of his true nature. And holds no regrets.

If anybody could tell me their nature, I would be happy.

I gave him a bright, service-minded smile. “Just sit, mister, and I`ll be right by you with the menu!” His whole person screamed important, and now he seemed baffled because I`d ignored his words, “Oh, I just want a coffee. Can I sit by the bar?” He nodded slightly at the chairs seated by the small bar. “Sure, no problem. Just black?” Mr. Adamson bared his white teeth to me in a resemblance to a smile. “Plain black, please.” He glided over and sat down; I saw Mrs. Evans gawking at him; he looked good- in a sort of feral way. The three-piece suit he wore stood out among the other clientele, most in their work clothes or jeans and t-shirt. It didn’t look like a cheap suit either; I guess the olive-oil business paid off. I fixed the coffee, and Oscar widened his eyes at me, telling me he was curious, but I just shrugged in response; I didn’t want to talk about the man right in front of him. I put the coffee on the table before him, “Just let me know if you`ll like anything else.” His eyes glimmered a second before they went serious. “Oh, I`ll do that. Hannah.”

The way he said my name made it run cold down my back, and I walked away briskly. Oscar leaned over to me, “That will be Mr. Adamson, I reckon?” I nodded without taking my eyes off the man. He drank his coffee in silence, reading the newspaper by the bar. What was he doing here? When did he come into town? Had he been here long? I didn’t need even more questions added to my list. When he was done, he paid, tipped, and waved goodbye. I knew he was here to gauge me, to size me up. Had he met my mother, or was it just a rouse to get to me? And why did he need to size me up?

I had the closing shift that day, and the evening was still mellow when I locked the door. I`d let Harry- the evening cook, go early since he was finished before me. I took a second to breathe in the fresh air, but my heart skipped when I walked down the stairs. Through the dim light, I saw the lamplight bounce off a shining car, black and sleek. My body froze. Would they attack me? I had relaxed some, thinking we had a truce of some kind. It was over, it seemed. I balled my fists when I spotted the man waiting. His body was leaned against the driver`s door, arms in cross over his chest. Black jeans, white t-shirt and a light jacket over that. He had one leg over the other, standing in a relaxed stance. I couldn’t see his eyes, they were behind the Ray Ban`s despite the dark, gloomy alley. William seemed lost in thought, I didn’t know what to say. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and dark, igniting my deeper parts.

“Want a ride?”

A million response`s came into thought, but neither of them mattered. He knew just as much as I did that I would get into the car. With him.

Cat Power sang in the background, the tinted windows making it almost dark inside.

Relax.

Had it occurred to me that it could be them putting the voice in my head? Of course. My heart and brain told me it wasn’t though, I trusted it. I had grown up with her, I knew her in my soul. William seemed to sense my mood and just drove in silence. I thought he would drive me home, but he smoothly turned the car around and headed towards the edge of outer town. The silence in the car was comfortable, just the two of us, not looking at each other and not talking. The difference from last time was palpable, the frenzy had simmered down to a slow under-current. As he slowed the car down, I finally noticed the surroundings, we were at Lady`s Dwell. I looked at him with questioning eyes, my heart a mess when he smirked at me. “Thought we could get your bike.” With that he got out of the car, and I took a minute to come to the fact that he, or maybe his siblings, had stolen my bike. He stood in front of the car waiting with his hands in the pockets of the jacket, at ease. I got out of the car slowly, unsure what to do. He had explicitly warned me about being with him. All fear evaporated when he reached out for my hand, I gave it to him without hesitation, my body reacting before my sense.

Hand in hand, we walked over to the memorial. It was real pretty, the sleeping woman almost seemed alive. William bent his knees to get a better look. “She looks like you.” I coughed to clear my voice, “They used a photo of my grand-mother as inspiration.”

He straightened. “I heard you met my father today.” I didn’t say anything, it wasn’t a question. “Did he say something to you?” I shook my head but stopped midmotion. “He said I looked like my mother.” William took off his shades and put them in his pocket, his eyes dark. “Fuck.” He looked my way, “Anything else?” “No, just small talk about his coffee.” I sat down at the bench, feeling protected by the sacred place. “Did he know my mother?” William sat beside me, close to me. “The...I don’t know what to call it, super-natural? Community isn’t that big, I guess he might have met her.” William looked down at his hands, refusing to meet my eyes. I snorted, not bothered to be elegant. “Not that big. Right. And I still don’t know what you are.” I might have sounded a bit miffed. That made him smile and I almost panicked by the way it made me feel. He leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him. “We are descendants from Seth. As in Adam`s son, Seth.” I rolled my eyes, “I figured out that. I just don’t know what you ARE.” I tried to calm my voice, but the frustration was evident. He met my eyes briefly. “I can tell you my father`s real name is Gomer, but today he goes by George. My grand-father`s name is Jafet, and his father`s name is Noah.”

I tried to breath evenly as I put this information together with the facts I already had. The possibility of this being true was close to zero, to a normal person. I knew about so many fantastic things, so I had to believe it.

“Noah is your great-grandfather? Noah, the boat-builder?” William smiled at my expression. “Yeah, he never shuts up about that.” My hands shook. “He`s alive?” He grinned, “You do know that Adam wasn’t created at the dawn of age, as the Bible wants you to believe, right?” I smacked his arm, secretly loving that I could touch him. “Yes, I do know that. But he has to be very, VERY old anyway. Like ancient.”

“3750 years old, give or take. He doesn’t remember anymore. His mind isn’t as strong as it was. He was 600 when the flood happened.”

I turned on the bench, creeping closer. “Did he meet Adam?” I was probably concentrating on the wrong things. “No, Adam died 127 years before Noah was born, but he did meet Seth, and his son Enosh.” My mind was spinning. “William? Can I ask you something?” He too had turned, so we sat facing each other on the bench. “I`m turning 500 next year, Belinda and Benjamin are only 346 years old.” My brows furrowed, he`d answered my question before I`d gotten to ask. William gave a sad laugh, “If that`s what you wanted to know.” It was, but I hadn`t really thought I would get an answer. Not knowing how to handle this, my only response was; “Hmm, I thought you were the youngest.”

I stood and walked towards the forest, keeping my back to him. “Why are you telling me this? Are you planning on killing me?”

I felt rather than heard him as he came up behind me. “I am not. But my father might be.”

I felt his fingers against my hair. “You need to know how to protect yourself. A simple protection-spell won`t hold him away. Hannah, I…” His voice broke and I turned quickly, putting my hands on his chest. I got the same feeling as the first time, looking into his soul. His old soul. The warmth from his body burned under my hands, and the birds had stopped singing. William put his own hands around mine, holding them tight to his body. He`d told me to stay away, he`d told me he needed to pretend he hated me, yet here we were- his body flush with mine as he told me secrets. I knew next to nothing about him, but my soul cried out for his. Once again, my mind wandered off, I needed to concentrate on the fact that someone wanted to kill me. “He`s killed witches before, I`ve seen them afterwards. If that happens to you….” He took a deep breath, landing on a decision. “Meet me tonight?” I waited for the voice in my head to yell at me, but it never came. I cast a harrowing look at the sky, asking for guidance, but I was on my own. Free will sucked. I had the Full Moon ritual, but I could meet him later- that would give me time to cancel if I wanted to, but I knew I wouldn’t. My perverse mind wanted to know what would happen.

“Meet me in my garden, at one o`clock?” William agreed and I saw his eyes wander to my lips, I couldn’t let it happen again, with much force I withdrew from him, leaving my body cold. “Give me your number, so I can reach you.” He gestured for my phone and entered it quickly when I gave it to him, he called himself as well, so he had my number. “Right, let`s get your bike then. I`m so sorry for the childish behaviour from my brother and sister. They`ll grow up, eventually.” I snorted a laugh, the idea of telling his 346-year-old siblings to grow up was a bit hilarious. William smiled with me, knowing why I was laughing. “What, they`re only in their teens, they`ve got it way easier than me, I`ll tell you that.” I laughed out loud, the absurdity hitting me. “Hey, don`t laugh, at least we don’t fly around on our brooms and visit the devil on the full moon.” I rolled my eyes at him. “We don’t either, you idiot.” But then I remembered I was to meet him tonight, maybe the last part wasn’t a lie.

“You have me spellbound.” His voice darkened with the seriousness. Since he wasn’t that much taller than me, his face-and his mouth, was almost right in front of me, I studied his lines. He`d shaved, but the stubble was still there. “I don’t do that kind of spells. Too much pain when they wear out.” A car passed on the road, making us jump away from each other. “What are we doing? If what you say are true, that your entire family wants me dead, why are we even talking?” The panic was evident, but he laid his hand to my cheek, calming me. “You have me, I won`t let them kill you.” He took a step back, cleared his throat and jogged over to some bushes, from which he lifted out my bike. As if it weighed nothing, he carried it to the car and got it inside the trunk somehow. I wanted the light mood back, so I tried a joke. “Does this mean you are tired of driving me home?” I had to check if my body was on fire when he gave me a lopsided half-smile full of promises. “I`ll take you anywhere you want, babe.”