Blood & Books

"Ok. I'll wait here." She sat down on the couch and waited for him to come back. He returned shortly after. While he was taking his guitar out, Chiko hopped up on the couch and settled in Deliah's lap. She pet him gently. "Anything you play is fine with me." She said. He began to play and she watched his finger strum the strings and listened to the sounds of him playing. She recognized the song and started singing softly along with his playing.

"Always...a hero comes home. He goes where no one has gone...but always a hero comes home. He knows of places unknown....always a hero comes home..." She hummed the rest as the song came to an end.

He glanced at her as he began to softly sing along, smiling at her, still playing the song. Once he finished he smiled, "You've a cute singing voice you know." he complimented her.

She laughed, "Not really. I am surprised I even started singing...the music just kind of coaxed it out of me I guess. That was a great rendition of that song though." Chiko hopped off Delilah's lap and went to get some water before going back into Natsuki's room.

Just then her phone started to ring. "Oh, sorry excuse me." She got up and ran over to the bar to get her cell phone. It was her grandfather calling to check up on her.

"Hey gramps! It's so good to hear your voice." She said when she answered the phone.

He chuckled, "I still think you've a cute voice.....singing and talking." he said.

He blinked hearing her phone, "No problem." he said, putting the guitar down for a minute.

"Hello honey, just checking up on you and seeing how's it all going?" he sounded happy to hear her voice again.

Delilah chuckled, "I'm doing fine gramps no need to worry. I have already made friends and my classes are going well. Today is my short day. I have class later this evening." She explained. "I can't talk much longer gramps. My friend is here and I don't want to be rude and keep him waiting."

"Oh you've made friends already! Excellent to hear!" eh smiled, believing it was her room mate at this time, not knowing the dorm apartment she was in was a mixed sex building.

"You take care you hear? And stay out of trouble. I love you."

"I will. I love you too, gramps. Talk to you soon, bye." She hung up the phone and rejoined Kaidan in the living room. "Sorry about that. He is such a worry wart. I'm surprised he didn't scold me for having a guy in my dorm room." She laughed nervously.

"Its understandable....Though i can't stand it when my father calls me." he rolled his eyes at the thought. "Oh you did say 'him', and he didn't respond?" he chuckled, "Must not have heard you properly." he chuckled.

Delilah chuckled, "Probably not. His hearing isn't the best these days. He is better at reading texts." She put her phone on vibrate and sat back down on the couch. "Does he annoy you that much?" She asked.

".......My father is......a high ranked vampire in our society......so he's ALWAYS thinking go image." he said with annoyance.

"Well, you seem to be doing well for yourself as far as I can see. You are at a very nice university and you are very talented in music. What more could he possibly ask of you?" She said.

"It took MUCH talking to convince him to let me attend university." he sighed, "Vashti finally got him to agree to let me go on and do my thing." he flopped on the couch.

"I'm basically the HEIR of the family. I've not siblings and my father will NOT re-marry." he said.

"Why is that such a bad thing? Unless he is trying to arrange a marriage for you or something, then it can't be that bad." She said looking over at him and moving a bit closer to him on the couch.

He looked at her when she mentioned the marriage part, "Unfortunately....that's another reason I'm trying to get away format he vampire society for a LONG while." he said.

"It sucks that your father scolds you, but I'm sure it is his way of showing that he cares. He just wants what is best for you and your family. My parents could care less about that sort of thing..." She said thinking about her deceased no good parents.

"Sorry but I would like to stop talking about him. it just makes me grouchy thinking about him. " he sighed, "Honestly my mother would have let me without worry." he added.

"Ok, I understand. What about your mom? What was she like?" She asked him hoping his mother was easier for him to talk about.

"....Beautiful. Wavy brown hair, kind heart and soft voice like honey....but determined in what she wished to do." he said.

Delilah smiled envisioning such a beautiful woman in her mind. "She sounds wonderful..." Delilah got quiet suddenly thinking of her now broken family. If it weren't for her grandfather, she probably wouldn't even be alive today.

"But unfortunately she's no longer with us......So...I wish i could talk with her....or have her talk to my old man." he sighed, "But anyway. I'm not here to vent to you as if you were a shrink. Sorry to do so."

"It's alright. I am happy to listen. You can talk to me any time. If it makes you feel better, I wish I had a family like yours to worry about me. My parents both died when I was a baby. My grandfather took me in before I was taken in by the system..." She began to vent a bit herself.

".....I see. I'm sorry, i'm being ungrateful about my own father and you....don't have them...."he felt pretty bad after that.

"It's alright. I shouldn't complain...thanks to my grandfather I grew up loved and well taken care of. I just wonder what it would have been like to have a mother and father in my life from the very beginning..." She said.

"......well I'll say it has hard moments." he said with a chuckle.

"But anyway, what' shall we do now?" he asked.

Lilah couldn't help but lean on his shoulder as she thought about her past. "I'm sure it does. I had hard moments with my grandfather all the time." She chuckled. "I never really told anyone about my parents...my grandfather told me their relationship was toxic. They were both crack addicts...in an on again off again relationship. My mother smoked while she was pregnant with me and I was born with NAS. I am lucky to be alive...I could have died of a stroke when I was born..." She continued.

"Oh...I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get all morbid and lean on you like that. We can talk about something else if you want to." She said sitting up and scooting away from Kaidan a bit.