fandomtownies | Aphrodite's Apple

Belthazor walked into the sitting room, looking about himself somewhat in awe at all the luxurious furnishings. This place was nothing like the Underworld. He saw the woman waiting and said, a little nervously, "You're Inara?"

"I am," she replied. "And you'd be Lindsay, yes?"

"Well, actually, Lindsey was too embarrassed to come," he lied, "so, umm, he asked me to come here and explain things for him." He was well aware of how lame he sounded and how Inara probaby wasn't buying one word of it. "I'm his roommate...Belthazor."

She indicated the sitting room. "Please, come in, Belthazor. Would you like a drink?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. Somehow asking for a beer felt wrong in this place. "Umm, water's fine."

Inara takes a little longer to pour the water than she should. It gives him time to think about what they're going to say, how to approach this meeting.

"Have a seat," she indicates the chairs and couches grouped around a low table. "How are things up at the high school? I've only been keeping up with the most talked-about gossip."

He sat down where she indicated, choosing one of the chairs. "There was some kind of zombie invasion last week," he said. "I missed it because I was home for the weekend. Things are a lot quieter now.

"I imagine things usually are after a zombie invasion," she said, smiling a little as she seated herself.

Sensing that it might be a little difficult for this young man to come to the point, Inara decided to open the conversation to the reason for the visit. "So, your friend mentioned relationship difficulties? Do you have any specifics for me?"

Belthazor nodded, shifting nervously in his seat. "Yeah. I...I mean he...met this girl. And I think he kinda fell in love with her. But they're from two totally different worlds, and he didn't think it would work out at all. He thought she'd just end up getting really hurt, and he didn't want that to happen. So he broke up with her, but now he can't stop thinking about her. But she probaby hates him now, and even if she doesn't, there's still that two different worlds thing."

"Does he talk much with her anymore?"

He shook his head. "She kinda left school after it happened. About a week ago. No one will tell me where she is or when she's coming back."

"That makes it difficult." Inara admitted.

"Was her departure from the school related to the break-up? Or don't you know?"

"I think so," he said with a nod. "After it happened I think she went to her journalism professor and asked him to send her on some assignments away from the school." He dropped his gaze. "I saw you offered counseling services, so I thought maybe you could help me figure out what to do." He gave up the pretense that it was someone else he was talking about.

Inara smiled gently. "I can offer you advice, but it's up to you how you act. I won't tell you what you should do, but I can tell you what might help.

"You've had no contact with her since she left the school? I'm guessing that you're still thinking about her a fair bit - is there any way to make an inquiry after her situation?

"It seems that you're stuck in a kind of limbo. If you know she's coming back then at least you know whether you have a chance to make peace with her when she returns - and if she's not going to return, then at least you know that you're not going to get peace on that point."

"I've asked her sisters and her friends where she is, but they won't tell me," Belthazor said miserably. "They know what happened and they don't want me anywhere near her. I don't think she's not coming back, but when she does, what if she never wants to speak to me again? And then there's that whole two different worlds thing."

"Yes, you mentioned the two different worlds. If you don't mind, we'll come back to that in a moment.

"Is there anything you can do to get in contact with her before she gets back? If not, then how can you get in contact with her when she returns? Worry about the 'never wanting to speak with you again' when that happens."

Inara pours herself more tea and offers the young man refreshments. "By the way, is your name really Lindsay?

He grinned a little sheepishly as he accepted the drink. "No, that's my roommate. My name's Belthazor. And like I said, no one will tell me where she is so I don't know where to find her. I haven't asked her journalism professor because he's apparently gone for the weekend, but I doubt he'll tell me either. She hasn't moved out of her dorm room as far as I know, so when she does come back she'll probably go there."

Inara is relieved that Belthazor isn't going to dissemble about who's come for the counselling. It makes it difficult for her as well as him.

"Then would it help your state of mind to leave a message for her? It doesn't have to be a long and complicated message, just a quick note to say you've been thinking of her."

"I guess I could," he said slowly. "I guess I'm afraid she won't read it. Or doesn't want to hear from me." Inside he winced a little. The mighty Belthazor wasn't supposed to be afraid of anything.

Inara hid a smile. "You won't know if she doesn't want to hear from you until you try to speak with her."

She paused and thought back through the conversation. "You spoke of the differences between your worlds before. This seems fairly significant to you."

He squirmed a little uneasily in his chair. "Yeah. It's like Romeo and Juliet, only about a hundred times worse. My, um, family really hates hers."

"That could get difficult. Any particular reason for the hatred?"

Belthazor hesitated. He could dance around the subject, but Inara had said their talk would be confidential, so.... "She's, uh, a witch," he finally admitted. "And I'm a demon. Our kind kill each other. Good versus evil and all that."

By now, Inara has almost gotten used to the idea of witches and demon, wizards and vampires. She didn't talk to many people in the town, but she overheard quite a lot.

Still, she had to ask, "Exactly how...necessary is it that your kind kill each other? For example, is it a biological imperative? Or just a 'moral' one?"

She was tempted to ask if it was as simple as 'good' and 'evil', because in her experience, nothing was as simple as that.

"It's just the way things are," he said, a little unsettled by her question. "Witches...fight the Source. And I follow the Source's orders, which means killing witches."

Inara regarded him thoughtfully.

"When people say 'it's just the way things are', they usually mean that nobody really stops to question why they do things.

"Still, it sounds like a difficult situation. Do you have to follow the Source's orders? And does she have to fight you specifically?" She smiled, a little self-consciously. "What I mean to ask is whether it's just your families, or if that includes you as well."

"The Source doesn't take betrayal lightly," he said, frowning. "If I disobey I'd get killed. I haven't been told I have to kill Phoebe or her sisters, but I'm supposed to report her, and once I do that, it's just a matter of time." He looked down at his hands in his lap. "I'm not supposed to care. I shouldn't. But...I'm only half-demon. I'm half-human, too."

Aphrodite's Apple

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