“I want pizza,” Angie said, walking in to the living room. “Grab your coat, and let’s go.”1
Arching an eyebrow at her, Dom looked at the clock sitting on the ledge below the flat screen TV. “Uh, it’s kind of late.”2
“And I’m kind of hungry,” she said. “Tria can watch Amy while we’re gone…so, move it.” 3
Giving a small pout to the TV screen and the movie he had been watching, Dom stood as he pushed the button on the remote to turn it off. “I’ll never find out who stole the statue,” he said. “I hope you’re happy.”4
“Less pout, more pizza,” she said, stopping as a person appeared in her peripheral vision. Taking a step back, she grabbed on to Dom’s arm.5
“Sorry,” Paul quickly apologized. “I didn’t want to knock in case I woke you.”6
“S’okay,” Angie said. “Few more minutes and you would have missed us.”7
“Going somewhere?” 8
“Pizza,” Dom said with a sigh. 9
“Stay here,” Paul said. “I’ll get it for you.” He looked around. “Tria here?”10
“She’s moping someplace,” Dom told him as he reached for the remote to turn the TV back on. His hand paused over it as he caught Angie watching him. 11
“Yeah, well, when you see her, tell her I’ll be back in a few. What did you want on your pizza?”12
While Angie gave him her order, Dom lowered his hand to the remote and pushed it on. Sitting as the last part of the movie continued, he glanced up as Paul vanished, then went back to watching.13
“The dentist stole it,” Angie said as she walked out of the living room.14
“Shit.” The movie now ruined, he turned the TV off, then stood and walked in to the kitchen, surprised to see Angie eating pizza. 15
“I like having a Were around,” she said as she took another bite. “Very handy at times like this.” She held a piece up to him. 16
“No thanks,” he said with a smile, trying not to grimace at the ingredients that covered the pie. 17
Shrugging, she grabbed another piece. “More for me, then. So, maybe you two could stop hovering and leave me to eat in peace?”18
Taking the hint, both Dom and Paul made their getaway to the safety of the living room. “She’s not usually that cranky,” Dom tried to explain. “Unless it involves pizza… or hamburgers… or ice cream…or any other edible things.”19
Paul’s reply was cut off as Tria walked down the steps. Giving her a good once over, he wondered how she could actually move in jeans that tight. Although, he had to admit that they looked absolutely perfect on her. 20
She gave him a cool look as she approached. “Where the hell have you been?” Tria asked.21
“Why? You miss me?” Ignoring her, Paul took a look at the dragon statues on the shelf beside him. “Which one’s the oldest?” he asked, turning slightly to look at Dom.22
“The red jade,” Dom said, nodding towards the one on the top shelf. 23
“Nice,” Paul replied, then took a step back. Turning, he raised an eyebrow at Tria as she glared at him. “Problems?”24
Annoyed at his attitude towards her, Tria tried to shove her anger down. “You said you had to get something,” she pointed out.25
“I did.”26
“And it took you four hours to get it?”27
“I was rushed, but yes.”28
Sighing in annoyance, Tria’s scowl deepened. “What did you get?” she demanded.29
“Laid. Not that it’s any of your business.”30
Covering a smile at the look on Tria’s face, Dom stood from the couch. “And that’s my cue to get the hell out before she kicks your ass.”31
“You left here,” Tria said, ice lacing her words, “so you could screw someone?”32
“Yeah,” Paul replied, wondering what her problem was. “Practice any magick while I was gone?”33
“You are such an arrogant bastard.”34
“And you’re an uptight frigid bitch,” Paul replied easily. “But that doesn’t answer the question I asked.”35
Swinging out, Tria’s fist connected with Paul’s mouth, propelling him back and in to the shelves holding the dragons. Using his magick to keep the figurines in place, Paul glared at her. 36
“Don’t ever call me that again.” Tria order.37
“Which one?” he asked. “Uptight, frigid, or bitch? Cause the uptight and frigid I can refrain from, but lady, you’re more than earning the bitch title.” 38
“Grrrr,” Tria screeched as her foot stomped the floor. “I fucking hate you!” Spinning, she stormed towards the steps.39
“Don’t go too far,” Paul called after her. “We got some practicing for you to do later.” Laughing as she stomped up the steps, he waited until she was out of sight before gingerly touching his face. “Ouch,” he hissed. 40
Paul?
Sighing at the voice in his head, he closed his eyes in annoyance. Yes, Roan?
What are you doing? Tria feels ready to kill you.
Just testing her limits, he told her. She’s got a very low threshold for anger. If she gives in to that too soon, it’ll kill her.
Fine, Roan thought back. I’m trusting you, eagle. Don’t fail me.
Aye, aye, captain. 41
Annoyed at the thinly veiled threat he’d just received from Roan, Paul inhaled, sucking up the pain, anger and irritation he felt. Exhaling slowly, he headed for the stairs, practicing the apology that he really didn’t want to give. 42
~~~~~~~~~~~~43
~~~~~~~~~~~~44
Knocking once more on the bedroom door, Paul frowned as she continued to ignore him. “Tria?” he said. “You know the door won’t stop me, so just open the damn thing and I’ll stand here and let you bitch at me, then we can move on to other things.”45
“You call that an apology?” a voice said from behind. 46
Turning, Paul nodded. “From me, yeah.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he raised an eyebrow at her attire. “Did I wake you?”47
Looking down, Tria blushed slightly when she realized she was wearing a long t-shirt and not much else. “I was trying out my powers with dressing, and you interrupted me.”48
Lucky me. “That takes a while to master,” he told her. “Kind of tricky, really. Need help with it?”49
“No.” Glaring as his gaze was no where near her face, she crossed her arms in a mirror pose of his, not realizing that it pulled the bottom of the t-shirt up considerably.50
Oh sweet mama. Coughing slightly at the sight of her smooth thighs and… his gaze stopped when he realized she was wearing a thong. Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Don’t- “Nice legs,” he heard himself saying, which he immediately regretted. “Uh, for a human, that is.”51
“So glad you approve.” Not giving him the satisfaction of trying to conceal herself, she continued to stare as he stared. “Anything you wanted to teach me, or are you just going to stand there like a perverted teen and gawk.” 52
“Perverted teen.”53
Gasping in annoyance, she vanished. Appearing back inside the bedroom she’d been offered, she could hear him laughing in the hallway. Grabbing a pair of jeans from the bed, she pulled them on, then yanked open the door. “You are such a jerk!”54
“So you’ve told me more than a few times.” Sobering, he sighed lightly. “You’ve got the traveling bit down pretty good, and a lot of things you knew as a DH covers a lot of other things. The creating with your mind and powers needs a lot of work, and that could be your downfall.”55
“Uh-huh,” she said, taking a step back as he entered. 56
“Labeve has claws, big ass ones, and can throw fire…which you can manipulate, so that gives you the advantage right there.” He paused as he aimlessly walked around the room. “If all the guessing is correct, and she can paralyze others, then that would give us a minimal window of opportunity. Could be that she has to unfreeze as she’s killing, or something like that, so…”57
“We need to find some way to block her attempts to paralyze.”58
“Basically.” Stopping on the other side of the bed, he looked at her. “My magick is strong enough to block. Maybe. But if I get injured, then I won’t be able to.” Giving her an even look, he lowered himself to the bed and sat on the edge. “Try to block me from reading your thoughts.”59
“Whoa.” Holding a hand up, she frowned. “You can read my thoughts?”60
”Yeah. And that’s how I know exactly what you think of me.” 61
Tria’s frown deepened as her cheeks blushed slightly. “Can you read Roan’s thoughts?”62
“Nope. She’s too high in the food chain.”63
“Then how can you read mine?” Tria asked. “I have her powers.”64
“You’ve been granted access to employ her powers,” Paul clarified. “Basically the same as her giving them to you, but she can pull them back at any time.”65
“Oh.” Confused, she sat on the other side of the bed. “Okay… commence blocking.”66
Easily reading her thoughts, Paul smiled as she imagined him going under in a vat of acid. “You’re one mean woman,” he commented. “Now make your thoughts blank, and... no, uh, imagine a wall in your mind.”67
“Okay.”68
Sighing as he easily read her thoughts again, he rubbed his face. “You’re an open book.”69
“I’m tired,” she admitted. “May be better after we’ve slept.”70
”Sounds good,” Paul said, stretching out on the bed. 71
“Get out.” Adding emphasis to her words, she motioning, shoving him off the bed.72
“Ouch.” Sitting up, he grinned at her, then stood. 73
As he walked past her, Tria concentrated to see if she could read his thoughts. At first he was blank, then wide open to her. I wish you didn’t hate me. Damn you Roan for asking me to do this. Maybe a late night flight will be better than sleeping. Ask me to stay, Tria, please. 74
“I’m gonna take a late night flight,” he said as he turned to stand in the doorway. “You need anything, just think it… I’ll be able to hear you.” Tilting his head in a very eagle like manner, his brow furrowed, then he took a step back as he realized she’d actually been able to hear his thoughts earlier. “See you in the morning.”75
Watching as the door closed behind him, Tria stared at the wood for a long time. If she didn’t know better, she would think that he wanted to be with her. Snorting at the thought, she turned to get changed for bed. Be with me? He thinks I’m one step above dog pooh on the bottom of his shoe.76
She’d just taken her shirt off when she pulled it back on. Having spent the last while trying to figure out things, her mind flipped back to the look on Roan’s face when she had passed her powers on to her. Savitar?
What!
Blinking at the pissed off voice, Tria swallowed. Uh, if it’s not going to get me killed, could I talk with you?
Is this going to include more of your insipid whining? 77
Great, he was in a less than cordial mood. I just have one question. Promise. Looking around as she suddenly appeared in a small clearing surrounded by bushes, she waited. "Savitar?"78
“I’m not talking to a bush,” Savitar’s voice said from nearby. 79
“Sorry,” Tria offered, wondering why he was annoyed since he was the one to phase here there in the first place. 80
“I could freak everyone out by having you pop up on a bench,” he said as she stepped out of the bushes. “But I prefer to keep the general population blissfully unaware of us.” He took one look at her, and forced a small smile on his face. “So the gauntlet has been passed.”81
“Pardon?”82
“She gave you her powers.”83
“Yes,” Tria said. “To remove Labeve.”84
“If you say so.” Giving a condescending look, he leaned against the back of the bench. This newest development had the potential to be bad. Very bad. “So what do you want this time?”85
“What?” she asked, suddenly cocky, and sure that she could protect herself from his moods. “I thought you knew everything.”86
“And that should remove the responsibility for you to actually come out and say what you summoned me for?” he asked, arching an eyebrow in question. “You’re playing a whole new ballgame here, human. The rules are vastly different than the ones you’ve been used to.”87
“I know what I’m doing, thank you.”88
“I highly doubt that, you’re welcome.” Standing from the bench, he gave her a hard stare. “I’m missing waves by standing here, and that pisses me off.”89
“Fine,” Tria whispered. “What did you do to her?”90
”Do to who?”91
”Roan,” Tria clarified. “She’s like this shadow of herself.”92
“I did nothing but give her the truth.”93
“Who’s truth?”94
Savitar smiled lightly. “Ah, but that’s the real thing, isn’t it? Truth is the one thing that everyone wants to hear, yet no one actually listens to. Roan had this belief for the past while that there was some grand mystical issue involving her tracking Labeve.”95
“Was there?”96
“In part.” He turned to watch a couple as they jogged through the path just beyond the fountain. “Through her, the demon will be stopped.”97
“Little more explanation, please.” 98
“No.”99
Sighing in annoyance, Tria stood and walked in to his line of vision as he continued to watch joggers. “Why not?”100
”Because I said so.” The normal response came out as an undeniable threat due to the tone used. 101
“She’s right, isn’t she?” Tria asked, annoyed. “You’re a manipulative, self-centered-“ her rant cut off as he stood to tower over her. The idea to stand her ground and fight him with her new god-like powers lasted only long enough to see the anger that crossed his face when he read that thought. 102
“Your newly gifted power means shit to me, human,” he said darkly. “As does your opinion.” He took a step forward, causing her to step back. “Now, is there anything else you wish to whine about?” He nodded slightly as she shook her head. “Good. Oh, and to satisfy your curiosity, Roan bought in to the myth of her own legend. She was only told that the task fell to her to stop a demon. Anything else was self-indulged tripe.”103
~~~~~~~~~~~~104
~~~~~~~~~~~~105
Stars twinkled in the clear sky, with just a hint of wind to make it a pure pleasure to be flying. Keeping himself to the main property and the ones on either side, Paul dove low to the ground, aiming for a scurrying rodent before swooping back in to the sky. Not really hungry, he just used the squirrel for target practice, making another run as the animal made it to the safety of the trees. 106
Landing on one himself, he looked around, checking out the perimeter and other things that wouldn’t stop a determined demon. Things would move a lot faster if there was someway to actually find and then invite Labeve to the property. Knowing that the demon would probably kill any messenger, and then not show up anyway, he titled his head as he thought. 107
Morphing back to his human form, he crouched high up in the tree, enjoying the night breezes that caressed his bare skin. Roan?
Yes? 108
I have no idea what I’m doing, he admitted.109
Why did you decide to bring Tria to Dominic’s?
No idea.
A small chuckle sounded in his mind, followed by a quiet sigh. Your instincts have served you well. Trust in them.
If you say so.
And stop hitting on Tria.
Blushing slightly, Paul scratched his head as he thought of a reply that wouldn’t get his ass kicked by the goddess. Any word on Labeve?
Nothing out of the ordinary, Roan replied, willing to let him switch the subject. If
she doesn’t make an attempt on the woman within a week, you are to come back.
What if-
Give them a first alert bracelet or something to contact you. 110
The annoyance in her voice was his cue to back easily out of the conversation. “First alert bracelet,” he repeated with a shake of his head. The feeling that Labeve was never going to be stopped passed through him, bringing dark clouds to the peaceful star filled night. 111
“Might as well complete my hell,” he said. Tria?
I’m trying to sleep. 112
Sorry to have bothered you. Changing to his eagle form, and letting out a shrill screech, he took off for the sky113
~~~~~~~~~~~~114
~~~~~~~~~~~~115
If it wasn’t one thing messing up, then it was another. Sighing in annoyance at the latest events, Savitar tried to remember just why he actually gave a damn about anything beyond his sandy shore. 116
Roan. The frigging bane of his damn existence…this week. She wasn’t supposed to give up her powers like that, and it was more than a little annoying. There was a fine balance to things, and although he tipped the balance on more than a few occasions, there were some things that could smash it to the ground and ruin everything. This was one of those times.117
And now, he’d have to talk to her, act semi-polite, and… probably be sick from the effort. Sighing in annoyance, Savitar decided to get it over with so he could come back and wash the ick away with soothing beach water. 118
Appearing in a garden, he looked around, impressed by the beauty of the place. The impression was cut short as he caught sight of Roan glaring at him as she sat under a tree. 119
“What the hell do you want?” she snarled as she stood. “You’ve already taken my dignity, respect in myself, and the past few thousand years, so there’s not much left.”120
“There’s your flare for the dramatic,” he deadpanned. 121
“Just get to the point, and get out.”122
Gritting his teeth, he silently counted to ten before speaking. “Why did you hand your powers to Tria?”123
“Because she can use them.”124
”But you’re the one that needs them.”125
“Why?”126
“You’re a Chthonian,” he said as if it explained all. “Anyone gets wind of this, and you won’t last a second before they kill you.” Looking at the sky in annoyance as she merely shrugged, he tried another tactic. “You die, and your powers go unstable. Tria can’t handle that. It’ll kill her, and anyone around her before blowing into the universe where if may or may not be absorbed.”127
“What do you care?”128
“Fuck if I know,” he muttered, but he did know. This had the potential to waylay all the other things that were coming, and push their timing so far off that it would completely mess up everything. 129
“I’ll get them back after she kills Labeve.”130
Savitar contemplated telling her the absolute truth in that little scenario, but decided against it. It could be done with Tria as the major factor…maybe. “She needs guidance.”131
“She has Paul.”132
Keeping a moan from escaping, he gave her a searing look. “Are you totally, completely, frigging loco? Paul? He can’t tie his shoes without getting the urge to pound the shit out of someone.” 133
“She can handle him fine.” 134
“Okay,” he said as he exhaled. ”So, you’ve got a Were teaching an immortal how to use Chthonian powers?” He stopped at a thought. “Just tell me you didn’t pass her all your powers. ‘Cause if she has the ability to kill a god, then you’re going to experience a world of hurt.”135
“Oh, puh-leeze,” Roan said with a roll of her eyes. “Give me a little credit, you jerk. I’m not that stupid.” 136
Feeling slightly better that Tria didn’t have the knowledge or power to kill one of his kind, Savitar tried to relax. “I’ll put this in a way that even you could understand, Roan,” he said. “It was all laid out for you. Every hint on how to kill Labeve, and you ignored it thinking that it couldn’t be that simple. It was your mess to clean up, and instead of asking ‘why?’ you took things that were said, and read between the lines, coming to the wrong conclusion.” 137
Staring at him while the words soaked in, she felt the desire to slap him, to hurt him so he’d stop. But she knew his type, and they weren’t affected by something physical. No, the way to hurt Savitar the most was from the inside. 138
“That it?” she asked, then smiled slightly. “I’d ask you to stay, but I don’t think your eagle would like that.” Immense inner satisfaction coursed throughout her as pain briefly flashed through his eyes. 139
Wanting to kill her, but knowing it wouldn’t be a fair fight since she was low on power, he paused for a moment as he contemplated attacking any way. Not like she would have given him a run for his money with her power… Shaking his head, he stepped back to remove himself from temptation. 140
“So,” she continued. “Just where is this toy of yours? I’m starting to think that she must have grown sick of your games and decided to leave before she did something innocent and you punished her for eternity because of it.”141
He was so not in the mood for her trash talk of Aiden, and didn’t feel like playing her game by defending the woman he loved. Holding up his hands in annoyance, Savitar turned. “Fuck it. I came here to make you see what you’ve done, and all you want to do is piss me off. Fine. Whatever.” He started to fade.142
“Wait.”143
He solidified again. “What?” he asked tersely.144
“Tell me.”145
Fixing her with a stern glare, he looked ready to pounce. “You have no idea how lucky you are,” he started.146
“With what?” she snapped.147
“You can’t see futures.”148
That pulled back part of her anger. “What?”149
“Every decision you make… you can’t see how it impacts the universe. You don’t see how it can fuck you up so badly that you’d do anything to be able to undo one simple choice.” If she didn’t know better, she thought she saw jealously cross his features as he paused. “You just coast through eternity, doing whatever, and not giving a shit for the consequences.”150
“Why are you telling me this?”151
“So you’ll finally see that you have to stop trying to shape and create things you can’t. Your pursuit of Labeve was supposed to teach you that, instead you created this fallacy surrounding the reasons.”152
“You could have told me,” she said. “Someone should have.”153
“Why?”154
“So I’d know what was going on,” she replied like he was a simpleton. 155
Annoyed disgust crossed his face. “Have you not been listening?” he growled. “Damn it, Roan. Sometimes things are what they are. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one. That’s what you needed to learn.”156
“Labeve was a test?”157
Rubbing his forehead as a headache developed, Savitar sighed. “No. You’ve got a huge decision to make, bra,” he said, breaking into surfer terminology. “You’ve crashed in that impact zone, and can either swim to shore, or drown.”158
“Shove the water talk.”159
“Drown it is, then. Just stop pulling Tria under with you.” Giving her a nod, he vanished again. 160
~~~~~~~~~~~~161
~~~~~~~~~~~~162
“Dom?”163
Opening his eyes at the voice by his ear, Dom sat up in bed. “What’s wrong?” he asked. 164
“I couldn’t sleep,” Angie told him.165
Gee, I could. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her down to lay on his chest. “Why can’t you sleep?” he asked with a yawn. 166
“Why didn’t you tell me that Paul’s brothers were the ones that attacked us?”167
That brought him wide-awake. “How’d you find out?”168
“Don’t avoid the question,” she said. 169
Bringing a hand up to run through her hair, Dom remained silent as he thought of the reason. Truth was that he didn’t really know himself why, but there was just something about the eagle that was screaming out for someone to trust in him. 170
“He’s not his brothers,” Dom finally said. 171
“You’re trusting the life of your unborn child to that assumption.” 172
“I’m kind of aware of that, Ang,” he said, a little harsher than he planned on. Moving his arm from around her, he rolled on to his side. “I’m tired. Can we put off discussing my incompetence until morning?” 173
“You’re not incompetent,” she said, rubbing a hand along his back. “And I never meant to imply that in any way.” Waiting for a response, she continued to rub his back. “Dom?”174
“I love you, Angie,” he said. “Please go to sleep, and we can discuss this in the morning.” 175
A baby’s crying interrupted any reply Angie was about to make. She watched as Dom hopped to his feet and headed to the door to tend to Amy who was in the next room. Sitting up on the bed, Angie waited for Dom to return. When he didn’t come back after a reasonable time, she climbed out of bed, grabbed her housecoat and went to the hallway. 176
Standing by the open door of the nursery, she smiled slightly at the sight of Dom sitting on the window seat as he held Amy in his arms. He was whispering to her, but Angie could make out his words as he pointed out various constellations to his goddaughter. Turning away to go back to bed, Angie stopped as she heard him continue to talk about the stars. 177
“That’s where you mommy and daddy are,” he said in hushed tones. “They’re looking down on you, and sending so much love that your heart will always be a beautiful as theirs were.” Kissing the top of her head as she looked up at him, he smiled gently. “I failed them, but I promise that I’ll never fail you.”178
He went back to looking out the window as Angie tried to keep tears from falling. Thinking that she should leave such a private conversation, she couldn’t make her feet obey. There was just something about seeing him with Amy that was beyond heartbreaking. 179
“You know,” Dom said, his voice toned for childlike conversation. “You’re going to have a playmate soon when my child arrives. Hopefully I’ll be able to protect you both…” Trailing off, he pointed at a shape in the sky. “See that? An eagle. I bet that’s Paul. He can change in to an eagle. He’s going to help Uncle Dom make sure that you and your soon to be born cousin are safe. I’d appreciate it if you’d spit up on him a few times and give me a break.” 180
Smiling at that, Angie finally backed away from the door and quietly made her way back to their bed. 181
~~~~~~~~~~~~182
~~~~~~~~~~~~183
“God, you look pathetic.”184
Glancing up at the voice, Savitar stared as black smoke filtered from the ground. The smoke solidified into a handsome Asian man who looked to be in his early twenties. Red eyes sparkled under red-tinged bangs, and his clothes were decidedly suited for a beach.185
“Takeshi,” Savitar said, greeting his oldest friend and sparring partner. “What brings you here?”186
“Why are you moping?” he replied, his voice tinged with an Asian accent. 187
“I don’t mope,” came the sullen reply.188
True. The only time he got into a mood like this was when it involved a female. “Where’s Aiden?”189
“She’s gone,” Savitar replied, his mood falling past miserable. “With all that’s coming, I couldn’t take the chance on her being hurt, or me being distracted.”190
“Too bad,” Takeshi said, grabbing a rock and tossing it in the water. “She was cool.” Picking up another stone, he bounced it in his hand. “She coming back?”191
“Hope so. Keep an eye on her for me.”192
“You don’t even have to ask, brother,” Takeshi said, then perked as an idea occurred to him. “Let’s go kill something,” he said as he tossed the second stone over his shoulder. “That always cheers you up.”193
“I don’t feel like it.”194
“Great,” he said, not really hearing. “We’ll head on down to-“ Stopping as what the surfer said finally soaked in, Takeshi raised his hand. A long blade appeared in it, which he pointed directly at Savitar’s throat. “Who are you?” he demanded.195
Rolling his eyes, and not feeling the slightest bit threatened, Savitar stared at him. “If you cherish your existence, then you’ll remove that immediately.”196
“Or else what?” came the reply as the blade remained.197
“Or else I’ll tell everyone about a certain teddy bear that-“ he stopped as the blade immediately vanished. 198
“Ex-nay on the teddy bear-ay,” Takeshi muttered. “And shit, what am I supposed to think when you turn down the opportunity to kill something?”199
“That maybe I’m not in the mood?”200
Shaking his head in astonishment, Takeshi exhaled. “This has got to be the first time in history that has ever happened. What’s up?”201
“Aiden, basically.”202
“And?” Takeshi prompted.203
“Roan’s back, and pissing me off.”204
“Eww. Okay, understood.” 205
“That’s all you’re going to say?” Savitar asked. “No smart assed remarks?”206
“Well, I could say that I’m sorry she came back, or that it sucks that you have to put up with her after what happened, but…” he trailed off as he gave a sympathetic look. “I think I’ll just say… told you so!”207
“You little shit,” Savitar mumbled, then cleared his throat. “Yes, my brother, I should have listened when you warned me about her.” He narrowed his eyes. “There, happy?”208
“Immensely so, yes.” He shrugged. “Hey, can I help it if you get idiotic sometimes when it comes to women?”209
“That was one time!”210
“The lady on that beach?”211
“Okay, twice.”212
Takeshi smiled. “The twins at the chariot races.”213
“Three times, then.”214
“The blonde at-“215
“Shut the hell up.” Taking a step back, Savitar snarled. “And she was really a natural redhead.”216
“Really?” Takeshi asked, intrigued. “Wow. Gotta love those water nymphs. Oh, wait…you already have.” 217
Watching as his friend started laughing, Savitar contemplated ramming a sword through him. Not that it would kill, but it would at least shut him up. 218
“Is there a reason for your visit, or did you just feel like launching into an impromptu account of my sex life?”219
“Spoilsport.” Straightening, Takeshi sighed out the last of his laughter. “Just some rumblings here and there about certain things that concern both of us.” 220
“I know,” the surfer agreed. “Strykerius is going to be a bigger twat than usual.”221
“I can stop him, if you rearrange a few things to cover my tracks.”222
Tempted, Savitar considered that option. It could be done… in theory. He knew what would happen if it wasn’t stopped, and although bloody, it was manageable. “Much as I’d love to squash that little bastard, we can’t take the chance.”223
“Understood,” came the reply. “It was a thought.”224
“It was a good thought.” 225
“It’s going to end up bad either way,” Takeshi said in a low voice. “We’re going to have to fight, and I mean actually fight. One Chthonian’s powers won’t win this.”226
“I know,” Savitar said as a long sword appeared in his hand. Wickedly curved with a hilt that scrolled around his hand, it looked like it always belonged there. 227
“Haven’t seen that for a while,” Takeshi whispered in awe as armour appeared on his body, and a sword in his hand. “Still know how to use it?”228
Raising it in an attack pose, Savitar’s eyes twinkled. “You tell me.” 229
230
In a list
[Reward: double points]
Comments
-
Ooo...I get to be the first to comment. Yay! really good chapter. Oh yeah, Paul and Tria! This is getting interesting. It's either gonna be Dom, Tria or Paul that kills Labeve. And I think Roan is gonna have to die or something in order for that to happen. I'll have fun figuring it out.
. Rewarded 6
Adding your comment:
