The air in the mountains was decidedly cooler than the Louisiana weather that Fury was used to. Not understanding how the woman beside him could be walking around in just a tank top with a shirt over it, he manifested a sweater on under the light jacket he was wearing, then added another one for good measure. “Why does Stryker want you dead?”
She didn’t really want to talk with him, but decided to bide her time until she could talk with Savitar. Although she had stopped wanting to kill any and all wolves, she could still feel her nerves on edge at his nearness. “There are a few reason, but mainly because I didn’t die when he wanted me to.”
“Ah.” Fury gave her a side look. “And why does Savitar prefer you alive?”
“Because I make great chocolate chip cookies.”
“Ah.” Fury pulled his jacket a little tighter against the cool autumn weather. “How’s the Daimon situation here?”
“There’s some.” Aiden shrugged slightly. “They never really bother me much.”
“Except for collaring you.”
“Yeah, well. We all have off days.” She pointed in the direction she was heading. “It’s the Arcadians that annoy me more.”
“Really?” It was surprising to hear an Arcadian openly complaining about her own kind, especially to a Katagaria.
“Arcadian’s tend to have a rather high opinion of themselves, which can be totally annoying at times.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Fury replied sarcastically. “Then again, they’re too busy trying to kill me to talk to me.”
“Yeah, well…I’m thinking I don’t want to get into that conversation, if you don’t mind.” She gave him a side-glance. “I would like to thank you, though, for helping me in the mountains.”
“Any chance to kick Daimon ass, I’ll take,” he said easily. “Plus, you surviving seemed to piss off some Arcadians, so that was an extra bonus.”
“Glad my near demise brought joy to your heart.” Although said in a light tone, there were strained emotions below.
Fury looked around as they entered a park, and walked towards a secluded area. All sorts of scenarios went through his mind as she stopped, and finally faced him. He blinked as she held up her hand, manifesting a long dog leash complete with a collar and tags.
“I don’t think so,” he said adamantly.
“It’s hard for a Katagaria to keep human form in the day,” Aiden replied in a patient voice, “and this city has leash laws.” She reached out, turned the tag around and showed him the name.
Fury exhaled in annoyance at his name on the tag in gold filigree. “Fine,” he said, immediately reverting to his timber wolf form. He bared his teeth slightly as she bent down to put the collar around his neck.
“Knock it off, wolf, or I’ll add a muzzle.” Aiden stood, then pulled slightly on the leash as she walked out of the trees and continued down the park path.
This city has scooping laws? Fury thought to her.
“Yes, why?”
All she got for a response was a low, evil chuckle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The view from Artemis’ balcony was absolutely breathtaking. Made of sparkling white marble that overlooked a stunning view of a rainbow waterfall and forest scene that seemed a little too perfect, the view should have brought tranquility to all who viewed it. Ash had not been impressed with the view for years, and found the perfection of it annoying.
He much preferred the view of the city from Aiden’s balcony. From there, things were real. He could look out over an actual city, not some mythical place, and experience the vitality that made him feel alive.
All he had here was perfection in the form of a stunning view, and a woman who made his skin crawl. Summoned by Artemis for some unknown reason, Ash had actually been in a rare mood in which he only despised her instead of completely hating her, and had arrived to find her in a mood of her own.
Her ‘mood’ sated, Ash stood on the balcony, his naturally blonde hair blowing around his shoulders from a gentle breeze as he looked out over the rainbow waterfall. He crossed his arms over his bare chest when he Artemis approaching him from behind, but refused to give her the satisfaction of him turning to face her.
“What do you want, Artie?”
“You, of course,” she said as she moved to stand in front of him.
He could see over her head, but somehow the view was now soiled. “Why did you ask me to come?” he asked in a patient voice as his mood went back to completely hating her.
“You know that I don’t like to interfere in your life,” she began, “but there are sometimes when I must.”
Ash continued his staring as he tried to work through that one. The goddess was forever poking her pert little nose in his business. “Okay.”
“One of my Dark-Hunters is in trouble, or will be very soon.” She gave him an earnest look that he would have thought impossible.
“Who?”
“I can’t tell you that. I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”
“They why are you telling me?” he asked.
“You seemed rather upset after the other one died, and I wanted to spare you that again.”
Yeah, like hell. “What trouble?”
“Hmm?”
“The Hunter,” Ash reminded her, his patience waning.
“What about him?”
“Artie…” he stopped and exhaled. “The DH that you said is in trouble? What trouble?”
“An eagle will attack him.” She raised one eyebrow in silent comment, making it very difficult for him to not want to kill her.
“Thank you for letting me know,” Ash replied, then, in an attempt to confuse her, kissed her briefly. “I appreciate it.”
“You… do?”
He fixed her with a heavy stare. “I always appreciate when someone decides to stop playing games and finally be honest with me.” He took a step back, then vanished as his words sunk through and anger crossed her face.
Appearing in Katoteros, his home, his hair immediately changed to black with a bright orange streak, and his black formista appeared over his leather pants. The long open robe billowed behind him as his silver soled shoes clicked against the marble floor.
“An eagle will attack him,” he whispered. If he jumped to the first conclusion, he would automatically think that Aiden was going to attack Nick. But he knew it wasn’t that simple. Regardless of the bitching Aiden had done about Nick, Ash knew that she would never really follow through and harm the man… unless Nick attacked her first.
Somehow he couldn’t see that happening. Nick seemed to be finally accepting that he was a Dark-Hunter, and did his job without complaint. The squire judgment was still in debate on Nick’s version about what had happened in the alley that resulted in the death of a Squire, although nothing even the slightest bit suspicious had happened since then.
Needing to think this through from every angle, Ash walked to his throne, his solid black guitar appearing in his hands as he crossed the marbled floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The lone eagle flapped his wings, catching an updraft and floating through the air currents as he kept a watchful eye on the events going on below. The woman with the large dog walked up a hill towards a condo complex, and it looked like she was talking to herself. The eagle landed in a tree and watched. He knew that the woman was talking to the dog, and he knew that the dog was really a wolf. Or, to be more precise, Fury Kattalakis.
Flying away before he could be spotted, the eagle headed for a large rock hidden behind a row of trees, and reverted to human form. Dressing as he approached a lone human that was crouched below the rock, the eagle stood back slightly, not wanting to be near him.
The human male made him nervous. Usually, the Katagaria eagle was afraid of nothing, but this person was different. Although the human looked calm, he smelled different than most the eagle had been in contact with…almost like he was full of acidic anger that threatened to spew forth at any moment, destroying all in its path.
The human put the last of a chocolate bar in his mouth and turned. “Is that Fury Kattalakis?”
The eagle nodded once, then froze as he sensed something. “They know we’re here,” he said, placing his hand on the humans arm and transporting them both out of the area.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She stopped just outside the door to the building and looked down at the large wolf that was at the end of the leash she was holding. “Maybe I should pick you up a bag a kibble,” she said in a thoughtful voice.
How’d you like all your shoes chewed up? Fury thought to her. He suddenly went still, then raised his head to sniff the air. Just for a moment, there had been a scent that seemed to be completely out of place. His ears moved back slightly as he listened, but could hear nothing past the usual sounds that should be there.
Get inside he told her, and waited while she unlocked the main door, and let him in to the building. As soon as she got the collar off, he changed into his human form. “Stay here,” he said. “And I do mean here. If anyone but me shows up, phase your ass someplace else…immediately.”
Aiden’s reply was cut off as he vanished. She was tempted to open the door to see what was going on, but forced herself to patiently wait.
Fury appeared in a small grove of trees that was just to the left of the building that he had been in. He looked around, frowning when everything seemed normal. Inhaling deeply, he picked up the faint scent that he had caught earlier, and followed it to its source.
Bending down, he picked up a candy bar wrapper, and raised it to his nose. It smelled fresh. Folding it carefully, he put it in his pocket and started to walk back to the main door. He could have teleported himself, but startling the eagle was something he didn’t feel like doing. She seemed just wound-up enough to seriously harm anything that popped in unexpected.
Aiden watched as Fury approached, and waited until he was at the door before she opened it.
“Is this private land?” he asked.
“Five acres.”
“Get many hikers or picnickers?”
“Why?”
Fury dug the wrapper out of his pocket. “Found this, and it seems to be opened very recently.”
Aiden looked at the wrapper. “It’s a chocolate bar, so it couldn’t be another Were.” There were two things guaranteed poison to a Were-Hunter, Tylenol and chocolate. “Maybe we should try to find out who was there.”
“Maybe you should just get going back to your condo.”
She glared at him. “Listen up, wolfie. I’m not your bitch, so don’t think you can order me around.”
Biting his tongue to keep from telling her off, Fury forcibly calmed his self. “I’m your bodyguard, lady, and what I say goes. If I tell you to stay, you stay, if I tell you to hide, you hide. Hell, if I tell you to do the Hokey-Pokey, you best be shaking your left leg ‘all about’. Got me?”
Aiden altered her tone so that she sounded like a scared little girl. “Oh, yes Mr. Fury, I shall do that immediately.” Smiling sarcastically, she turned and headed for the elevator.
Fury mimicked choking her with his hands, then sighed and followed.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Nick pulled away from the Katagaria eagle as soon as they appeared in another wooded area.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” Nick warned.
“Next time I’ll let the wolf find your sorry ass,” the eagle replied, not the least bit annoyed. Although the human made him nervous, he had dealt with worse. As long as he kept his cool around him, he should be able to have a few seconds warning if the human tried anything.
“I can handle him,” Nick said. “I want you to keep an eye on the Arcadian, and let me know when she leaves.”
“Would you like to know when she goes to the bathroom?”
“Sarcasm,” Nick said smoothly. “How… human.” He shook his head. “Look. There’s something going on that could affect the entire Gerakian population, both Katagaria and Arcadian, and she’s in the middle of it.”
“How noble of you to be concerned.” The Katagaria eagle could tell that the human was lying. The scent of deceit clung to him like some cheap aftershave. Ulterior motives aside, the eagle had no qualms about keep a bird’s eye view on the Arcadian. He didn’t like her kind anyway, and felt that she should have been disposed of after the events in which her mate had killed their own people.
“Just keep an eye on her,” Nick said wearily. He turned and started to walk, only to stop when he realized that he had no idea where he was.
“Middle of the city’s main park,” the eagle called out in a humorous voice.
“Right,” Nick muttered as he began walking again. He knew he had taken a gamble in contacting a Katagaria Eagle and getting him to do his dirty work, but he knew the animosity between the branches of the species would work for him. Katagarian and Arcadians had been fighting since their creation, and he needed to use that to put a bit more pressure on Aiden.
He guessed that Stryker knew of his plans, and since he hadn’t stepped in to stop him, Nick continued. When it all came down to it, Stryker wanted Ash hurt, and one way guaranteed to do that was to attack his friends.
He knew it wasn’t a perfect plan, and had more doubts that assurances, but it was something to occupy Ash’s time and attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Savitar was sitting on the couch, watching a live game show when Aiden opened her door. He held his finger up for them to wait, then pointed at the screen, smiling as his magick changed the answer that was hidden on the players. The television went off, and he leaned back to regard them.
Aiden pointedly ignored him as she hung the leash up on the coat rack by the door, then walked straight past him. Both Savitar and Fury traded glances at the decidedly arctic chill that Aiden was giving off.
Savitar stood and walked over to her as she got a coffee from the kitchen, and leaned on the counter beside her.
Fury took that moment to look around and get a good feel for where he would be staying. Although he had been in her condo before, he was too busy keeping a wary eye on a demon Simi to actually look around. And this morning, well…he’d gotten a fairly good look at the ceiling.
“Good morning?” Savitar asked.
“What did I do to piss you off enough to saddle me with him?!” She pointed a Fury, who curled his lip at her.
“I have my reasons,” Savitar said easily. “Short version is that you need a little protection from a few forces that want you dead.”
“What about the mark?” she asked, motioning to her face.
“Didn’t help you last night, did it.”
Aiden sighed. “None of this would be necessary if Ash had let me kill Stryker.”
“I’m not even going to go into the shit that killing that jerk will cause,” Savitar said in a low voice. “He has a specific time to die.”
“Care to share?”
He ignored her question. “I nearly destroyed the universe because something happened to you. That can never happen again. With someone watching you, I won’t be tempted to do something rash.” He paused. “Think of it as a deterrent.”
“How about this for a better deterrent?” she said. “If you destroy the universe over me, then I will never speak to you again.”
“You’ll be dead.”
“Irrelevant!”
He knew it was, since she would find some way to survive, just so she could spend eternity never speaking to him again. Savitar sighed. “I don’t like doing this, since I value your thoughts, and feelings…but…you’re going to have a bodyguard.”
Aiden looked into his eyes, which were currently light amber, and sighed. This was the ‘don’t argue with me’ Savitar, the arrogant god who liked to think that he was always right. She muttered something under her breath as she turned away.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Didn’t quite catch that.”
Aiden turned back and glared at him. She knew as well as he did that he heard it even before she said it. “I said ‘arrogant, fucking know-it-all’.”
Fury’s eyes went wide at the insult and they darted around as he looked for a suitable hiding place from the eruption he knew was coming. He stopped, even more shocked when Savitar merely smiled.
“It’s great to be understood,” the immortal said with a sigh. “Now, are you through with the tantrum, or would you like to throw a couple heavy objects at my head?”
Aiden narrowed her eyes at his attitude. “I do have a stress ball that Ash gave me…”
Savitar laughed softly, and then glanced at Fury. “Take a break,” he said, waving his hand as Fury vanished.
She looked at the spot where the wolf had been, then sighed. “I hate when you do that.”
“I know you do.” He raised a hand and gently brushed her hair that lay over one shoulder. “Now…why don’t you tell me the real reason you’re pissed off.”
“I already told you.” Aiden crossed her arms over her chest, but stayed where she was as his fingers continued in her hair.
“That might work with others, but you forget that I know everything about everything.”
“Then you know the reason.”
He nodded. “I want to hear you say it.” His brushing stopped as he transferred his hand to rest on her shoulder. “Thinking it, and saying it are two completely different things. People can think whatever they want, but voicing it makes it a reality that few are willing to face.”
She sighed, then closed her eyes in annoyance. “A little over a year ago, I was content,” Aiden said as she opened her eyes. “This building was full of Arcadian eagles, and life, and things seemed clear. Now I’m the only occupant, I’m considered dead to most of my patria, and everything is so clouded that I don’t think I’ll ever see bright skies again. My… family... I guess… had to die to bring me to where I am today.” She turned away. “And I feel guilty that I prefer the now to what I had a year ago.”
“Guilt is a wasted emotion,” Savitar said gently. “The past cannot be changed.” He stopped, and slightly rolled his eyes. “Okay, it can be changed, but it shouldn’t be. Barring minor variances, it’s all as it should be.”
“That doesn’t exactly help, you know?”
“I know.” Slowly removing his hand, Savitar leaned down slightly so that his face was closer to hers. “Losing all you know is one of the worse things that can happen to someone.” Profound pain appeared in his eyes for a few brief moments, then was gone. “There is nothing anyone could possibly say that could take away the pain or guilt that you’re experiencing.”
“So you stick me with a Katagaria wolf?”
“This will be over soon,” he replied instead. One way or another.
“How soon?”
“Two weeks, tops,” Savitar brushed a finger over her cheek. “I give my word.”
“Can you tell me why I need a bodyguard?”
“No.”
“I’m sick of this,” she said with an aggravated sigh. “Sick of being some little pawn in a cosmic game, and sick of being a target. Some dead guy has issues with his daddy, and to piss him off, joins up with an enemy, and screws the earth around for over eleven thousand years. Then through some...well, betrayal, let’s say… I land front and center in his plans, and get screwed around so badly that not even the frigging mighty Savitar can prevent it without messing up some all-important, and highly classified timeline!”
Savitar’s eyes flashed a deep red. Somehow, that part sounded a lot less vicious when he heard it in her mind.
“Okay,” he said in a deep voice.
“Okay?” she asked in slight disbelief. “That’s it?”
“You would prefer I fry you for pissing me off?”
“Not particularly, no,” she said.
They traded stares in silence for a few moments as Savitar forced himself not to tell her anything. “I should go,” he said in a regretful whisper. “I’m sorry that things have to be this way, but I’m doing my best to keep you from getting hurt without me stepping in and destroying it all.”
“I think I understand,” she said. “I just don’t like it.”
“I know.” He pulled her close, holding her body against his as her scent washed over him. “If you did like it, then I would start to worry.” He kissed the top of her head and took a step back, needing to put some space between them before he broke his main rule of caring.
Not that he hadn’t broken it every time he was with her, but this time he had to maintain the distance. It dissolved as she looked up at him with an expression that threatened to break a heart he didn’t have.
“My kind was born from anger, and betrayal and selfishness,” she said slowly. “Those traits have stalked us since the first Weres, and I’m getting rather tired of them.” She wrapped her arms around herself and stared into the blue sky outside the balcony doors. “I just want to know one thing, one little secret so that I can at least have the illusion of having some sort of control over my life again.”
Savitar clenched his jaw shut to keep from saying anything. He would tell her everything if he could, but that would be like pointing a gun against her temple and pulling the trigger. He could hear her thoughts, jumbled as they were, and he knew that she was thinking of the past year, and the upcoming anniversary of when everything started to go bad for her.
“I can tell you one thing,” he whispered. “Don’t ditch Fury.”
“Why not?”
“Just trust me on that.”
“How can I trust when no one will tell me the truth?”
Savitar shook his head slightly. “Aiden…I may be very secretive, but I have never lied.” He smiled briefly. “Truth? Fine. Truth is… Stryker wants you dead. I don’t want you dead, and I will do what I deem the proper course of action is to see that you stay alive.”
“Now I know who taught Ash to be vague,” Aiden said with a sigh. “Okay. Fine. I’ll do it your way." Until I feel the need to do it my way.1
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Comments
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grrr... i really know that i couldnt be in aidens position now... she has too much drama for me to handle. i would be thinking the exact same thing, that she is a strong mystical creature that can handle her own. im suddenly finding her relationship with savvy even more strenuous when i think about all the power he holds over her and how angry he gets.
and i keep forgetting to mention but did nick give up on the arrows? that was never established but just kind on dropped. i dont think he even got into the safy deposit boxes did he? -
Still loving it...
And here I am again, loving every moment of this chapter and wishing there was more! Hope you have time to update soon!
I gotta say, I was really drawn into this chapter. I could really feel the annoyance at Savitar that Aiden was feeling. I like the way you maintain the distance between the two of them, really keeping with Savitar's character. He doesn't change or suddenly give in to everything for her. You do an amazing job of keeping up the inner turmoil he feels.
It's hard for me to be really critical of your writing as you really draw me into your stories and keep me wanting more. Your characters are realistic, your plot is very interesting, and your stories are just a lot of fun to read. Can't wait for more!
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