I'm Not Doing Ice Cream

In an hour time, work was over and they closed for the day. Zuka waited for both ladies to wrap up things then he saw them off.

Natalie took a cab to her home. She had loosened up a bit in the last hour, after they had celebrated their new friendship pack. After she left Zuka stayed with Ashley while she waited for Damon.

It didn't take too long before they saw his car approaching.

"I'll be leaving now. Have a good night." Zuka said and patted Ashley on the back as he stood up to leave.

"Thanks have a good weekend too." Ashley smiled. He returned the smile and walked away.

Damon's car stopped in front of Ashley just after Zuka walked away and she got in then they drove back to the mansion. Ashley wondered if Damon had seen the person with her before he pulled up in front of her. Maybe he didn't? Because with what was happening she knew that if he saw a stranger with her he wouldn't take it easy.

True! Zuka was a stranger and there was something different about him too. He had that frightening aura though she didn't really feel like she should be alarmed around him but in a time like this too, should she trust him? They just did a new friends group for goodness sake! What if she was meeting a devil in disguise again, just like Betty, pretending to be an innocent and friendly person. Why hadn't she even thought about that from the beginning?

It should be suspicious now that the man came to their restaurant everyday just for her and to think of it, she caused it. She shouldn't have gone to him at the park.

Well, Damon didn't say anything so even if he saw him, which definitely would have happened because of the lights everywhere then he probably wasn't a suspect. She shouldn't start regretting anything yet. She hoped her instinct was right and Zuka won't end up being one of the bad guys. She really wanted him to be a good person as she felt he was.

In a short while surprisingly they were back home and they walked inside the house. Sephirah was around. It had been a while since she last visited the mansion.

"Welcome back." Sephirah said coming to them with a smile when they came into the hall. It was like she already knew they had arrived and was on her way to them.

Ashley smiled back at her and Damon said nothing.

"Thank you." Ashley said.

"Come, dinner was just served, let's eat." The woman said and took Ashley's hand. "Will you join us too?" She asked Damon.

He nodded nonchalantly and Sephirah took Ashley with her. Ashley didn't feel like eating but she would since Sephirah had already dragged her along.

As they neared the dining room, Ashley started to perceive the smell of food served. They smelled delicious and she started to feel hungry.

Very soon they were seated and Ashley looked at the different meals placed on the table. She now badly wanted to have a taste of every one of them.

"What are you waiting for? Eat." Sephirah said as she noticed her looking at the food.

Ashley didn't waste time and quickly served some rice into her plate. She took some vegetables too then plenty of meat and then poured some fruit juice into her cup and drank from it. She was not yet full and she was going to have more.

A while later, Damon sat with them at the table. Ashley noticed that he took less food and more wine. And once again, no one said a thing at the table.

Ashley watched Damon and Sephirah. She still didn't understand what was really going on between them she rarely saw them talk. Maybe they did when she wasn't with them but Sephirah mostly focused on her when they were all together. And today she seemed to focus even more on her. Giving her wide smiles from time to time and putting food in her plate more than usual.

Ashley wondered what made the woman behave that way towards her today particularly and Ashley kept giving her forced smiles each time she put food in her plate or poured wine for her. She didn't know what to do and the special treatment was too much.

She didn't know how much longer she would have to bear before she left for her room.

After she gave another smile to Sephirah for the food she was given she looked at Damon and caught him staring at her. Her heart skipped a beat and she saw a very faint smirk tug at the corner of his lips. She looked away immediately and filled her mouth with vegetables.

Her mouth became so full that it was a bit hard for her to chew easily. She found Sephirah looking at her with raised eye brows.

"Are you okay?" Sephirah asked.

Ashley nodded but she knew that she wasn't anywhere near okay. She continued to chew slowly till she was able to swallow everything in her mouth.

She looked at Damon again and he drank from his cup, still having his eyes on her. Ashley looked away again. Why was he looking at her like that? Was her mouth messed up? Did she eat badly and mess up her whole face?

She picked a saviet and used it to clean her mouth.

She didn't know if Sephirah noticed what was going on but the lady cleared her throat as if trying to ease out whatever tension that was in the air then spoke.

"What's your favorite food Ash?" She asked.

Ashley looked at her. Only Natalie called her that. And also what was her favorite food? She really didn't have one, she just loved good food.

"I like any food that makes me hungry just by perceiving it's smell." She replied with a shrug.

"Okay. What about dessert?"

"Ice cream." Ashley blurted without a second thought.

Well, she loved ice cream more than anything else, chocolate ice creams to be precise.

"Then let's have some. Don't you think?" Sephirah asked.

"Sure. I mean if there is."

"Of course there is." Sephirah said.

Ashley looked at Damon again now he didn't look happy. He and Sephirah exchanged looks and Ashley saw her grimace.

"I'll be right back," the lady said and stood up then left the dining room going to the kitchen.

Ashley felt somewhat uncomfortable being alone with Damon and the way he looked at her was making it even worse. She put some more food into her mouth and grimaced. She was full already and didn't feel like eating anymore.

What would she do now? She couldn't spit it out.

"You don't have to force yourself to keep eating." Damon said and she looked at him.

He raised his brows and tilted his head slightly. His look made her swallow everything in her mouth at once and she rushed for water.

She heard him make a sound, like he chuckled and she bent her head to make her hair cover her face. She needed Sephirah to come back quickly.

Soon Sephirah was back and she was holding a bowl, filled with ice cream. Ashley's eyes beamed with excitement untill she saw it wasn't chocolate but vanilla ice cream. The excitement in her eyes died as she watched Sephirah take her sit after placing the bowl on the table.

Damon stood up to leave. "I'm not doing ice cream, you two should enjoy." He said and left without waiting for anyone to say something. Ashley felt bad now, she didn't want him to leave.

"More for us then." Sephirah said and dug in, scooping a huge sum with her spoon.

"I thought you liked ice cream." She asked when she noticed that Ashley had not taken any.

"I do but I'm not particularly a fan of the vanilla flavor."

"Oh, you should have told me. What flavor is your favorite?"

"Chocolate but never mind, I'll take this since that is what is available." Ashley said with a smile and used her spoon to scoop some too.

Sephirah gave her a smile too. "I'm sure you know about the SAGE now." She then said after a short while.

Ashley paused when she heard that.

"Damon told me they visited your dreams."

Ashley was quiet before she spoke. "They said they would soon be here." She said.

Sephirah nodded.

"Why do I have to be the one to be used?" Ashley asked looking down, remembering that she was only just being used to get to Damon.

"I'm so sorry that you had to be the one going through all this." Sephirah said sympathetically.

Ashley had nothing to reply to that. She felt sorry for herself too.

"This is your second week in the mansion, I know Damon can be scary and cold sometimes but don't worry he'll loosen up and you'll see how great he can be." Sephirah said.

Why was she bringing up Damon? Ashley thought of asking about what her relationship with Damon really was but then thought it was a stupid thing to do.

"Is it a demon thing to suddenly change the temperature in an environment depending on what mood they are in?" Ashley asked instead.

Sephirah chuckled. Ashley took notice of the slightly longer canines similar to Zuka's and she narrowed her eyes. Every human she had related with didn't have longer than usual canines. Which also made her remember the men in her dreams, she had been able to notice it in two of them. No, Zuka couldn't be one of them. He couldn't also be a demon!

She wouldn't conclude until she sees from Damon. If he had it too then she would now confirm if it was a demon thing or not but also, until then perhaps she should be careful of Zuka so that it won't be that she was falling into the hands of one of SAGE's minions again.

"Yes. If we get too angry or feel other very strong emotions, the temperature wherever we may be can suddenly change. And for the humans, it usually becomes too cold for them." Sephirah explained and Ashley listened.

"There are some demons that are naturally just cold and wherever they are, whether angry or not their presence alone gives you chills."

That was more with Damon, Ashley noted. Whether he was angry or not his presence made the atmosphere around become colder than normal and when he got angry for some reason, like he probably did in the car this morning, it only got worse.

If he gave out a very cold aura, she wondered just what body temperature he had. Speaking of which, she had not made any physical contact with him since the night he saved her from the kidnapper thieves.

But then she remembered the times she had fainted and woken up in his room. He definitely would have touched and held her but she was unconscious then so she couldn't even know what his body felt like.

"How do you know?" Ashley asked Sephirah. "Do demons feel it from them too?" She asked referring to the demons the lady talked about that just give out that cold whether angry or not.

Sephirah shook her head."We don't feel it 'cause we're of the same kind but I know because we can read the humans remember?"

Right. Ashley nodded.

That also meant there were more demons on earth, for other humans to feel all this too.

The ice cream had reduced a little and Ashley was full and tired of it. Sephirah seemed to be tired too because she cleaned her mouth and stood up.

"I think we had enough." She chuckled. Ashley smiled and stood up too.

"I had enough." She said.

As they walked out of the dining room, some servants came in to clear the table. They bowed and Sephirah nodded slightly.

Both ladies walked into the living room, Damon was also just entering.

He had his hands in his pockets and was walking so fast like he was in a hurry to go somewhere but slowed down when he saw them. He looked like someone who just saw a ghost.

"Ashley go to your room, Sephirah you're coming with me." His voice was dark and he spoke huskily. From the way he sounded, Ashley could tell that something was not right.

"Go now!" He thundered and Ashley didn't waste another second before she hurriedly walked away.