Talk is Cheap (Vanessa)

Alek's hand shivered a little as he leaned over Vanessa to reach for the cigarette pack on his night stand. She had stayed the night, as had many other women recently. The thing about Vanessa was that Alek had actually made an effort to be faithful, but after finding out Miranda was nothing more than a dramatic, selfish bitch he had lost control. Like he usually did when he got mad at her, Alek had gone off to Rudi's and gotten shit-faced drunk. It was sadly becoming a habit of his, running off to his brother. "Want one?" he asked Vanessa. It was obvious he liked her, but it was also obvious he liked pretty much any other woman in the planet. He had been trying to think of a way to tell her that their deal was off, not the dark magic part but the other part.

"Have you heard from your father?" Alek knew very vague information of Vanessa's father, but it was enough to make him wonder whether the girl ever got in touch with him again or not. Truth was, Alek wasn't sure he wanted to teach Vanessa anymore. He would have to fulfill his part of the deal, that wasn't even a question, but he didn't want to. Vanessa was - on rare occasions - very sweet. It was in those moments that Alek found it hard to believe that someone could lose so much innocence that they would want to study dark magic. "You know, maybe it is best that we not practice any dark magic anymore. Keep your soul intact." He had recently learned that word in English, and he had been using it with Rudi and many women for the past few days.

They were both sitting on his bed, just talking. Well, Vanessa had been doing most of the talking and he had been mostly listening and staring up at his ceiling. Reaching into his back pocket, Alek pulled out a lighter. He put the cigarette between his lips and lit it, something he had also been doing quite often. Rydi had gotten on to him about smoking, and Alek hated that habit of his but it was hard to give it up when he had to walk past Miranda every morning and every night. He had spent his days out of the shop when he wasn't working, often choosing to spend the night at someone else's place or bringing a very loud woman to his, just to piss Miranda off. He wasn't going to lie and say that he didn't feel bad for Phineas, because it wasn't his fault, but Alek hated Miranda currently.