Hedgesville, West Virginia
Caspian Residence
Wednesday, August 21, 1996
5:12 PM

At the sound of the downstairs' door opening, Jennie bolted from her room and looked down the stairs with wide eyes to find Riley walking into the house while pulling off his jacket and then unbuttoning his shirt. His eyes looked up the stairs at her as they both came to a dead stop in their tracks.
"Nick said you would fix my room," Jennie said as she questioned what Nick had meant.
"What happened to it?" Riley asked in return.
"Rowen came and Rachael sent him on his way," Jennie replied as she pointed to her bedroom. "Right through my window."
"Rachael always did overdo things," Riley sighed with a roll of his eyes.
"I was scared!" Rachael shouted from the kitchen as she came out with her hands on her hips. "Jennie was in trouble and I had to do something. The guys were all outside."
"Come on," Riley stated as he moved up the stairs and pass Jennie, walking into her bedroom where he saw Rem watching television on the floor of the room. "Suppose he' staying with you now? Dad said it was okay?"
"More or less," Jennie said as Rem waved absently at Riley while continuing his watching of cartoons. "So can you fix this?"
"Yes," Riley replied as he stared at the hole in the wall. "Rowen went flying through here? Stupid girl. She ought to know better than to piss off that Aramaki punk. It'll only make him madder."
"If she hadn't came in when she did…" Jennie's voice trailed off when she saw Riley look over his shoulder at her with soft, mellow eyes.
"Did he touch inappropriately?" Riley asked.
"No, not really," Jennie mumbled, staring at the older man with a odd glance. “That’s a weird way of asking…”
Riley shuffled on his feet then sighed to himself as he turned his attention back to the hole. Bits and pieces of the wall that laid on the ground began to shake then lift into the air while the cartoon Rem had been watching went silent.
Jennie watched in awe as the wall was being rebuilt like a jigsaw puzzle. In a matter of minutes, the hole was closed up and it looked like nothing had happened at all.
"I know women love bad guys," Riley said as he turned around to leave, "but try not to fall for his charms." He left before Jennie could question what he meant.
With the loud sound of the cartoon once again in the air, Jennie looked to Rem who still had his face planted into the television. Sitting down beside him, she stared at Rem's smiling face as he chuckled to himself every now and then to something on the show.
"Rowen said something really weird to me," she said as she felt Rem's eyes peer at her. "He said I was his. But I don’t understand where he gets that from. What’s wrong with that guy?”
“He’s a loon,” Rem remarked.
“I’m scared of him,” she whispered, hugging her legs to her chest.
“And you should be,” he muttered as he turned back to his cartoon.
Reaching out with her hand, she flicked the button on the television off as the screen turned black and Rem glared at her. The silence of the room was deafening as neither spoke. She stared at the floor while he gawked at her.
"I don't want to die by his hands," she finally said. "I just wish I knew what he and Mom had been talking about. Before I came into the kitchen they had been talking."
She chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about that day, of what she could remember of it. Absently looking at her mother's ring that she had placed on her right hand, she played with it for a moment then sighed.
"He was like an angel then. Had such a sweet face."
"Yeah, that's how those angels work," Rem said in a gruff tone. "They'll have you creaming in your panties while stabbing you in the throat."
Jennie's face twisted into disgust at his choice of words then looked away. "You're right, I guess," she said quietly. "Angels aren't so lovely after all, are they?"
"No shit," he growled.
"Are you mad?" she asked abruptly, finding Rem glaring at her while his lips were tightly pressed together.
"No, not really," he replied as he pushed himself off the floor, stretching his arms into the air. "Talking about angels isn't a good thing. It'll bring them here."
"What?" she asked.
"Angels, those fuckers, know when you're talking about them," Rem said as he ran his fingers through his hair and looked to her window. "They'll come in to investigate what made you speak about them. If they don't like what they find, they'll kill the lot of us. Or just make life a living hell. And it definitely doesn't help that that bastard Rowen is coming here. He's hated by all kinds. Angel and demons both."
"Poor guy," she whispered.
"Poor guy, my ass!" Rem shouted. "He's hated for a reason! You're clinically insane if you haven't noticed. He killed his parents and was adopted into the Has Kard castle by the fucking Yaozu! Trained to be an assassin. And you want to pity him? That's that angel shit again."
Pushing herself to her feet, Jennie peered at Rem as he glowered. "Rem, I'm sorry," she said quietly as she pressed her hands against her thighs. "I won't mention him again."
"Don't start the pity-me-shit again," Rem remarked as he bopped his hand against her head. "Now how about we go downstairs for a bit and watch a movie? Or we could play some Suikoden?"
"What the hell is Swee-ko-den? If it has anything to do with your Captain Winky, I don't want anything to do with it," Jennie said as her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms across her chest.
"Stupid bitch, it's a video game on the Playstation," Rem declared as he shook his head and walked out of the room.
"Wait up!" Jennie shouted, following behind.