Monday morning, Stone jerked awake as a scream emerged down the hall from his room. He jumped out of bed and had his hand on the door when another shout emerged.
“Free!” Miguel yelled. “I’m free! Weekend's over!!!”
Stone slowly opened the door and peeked out. Miguel came running out of his room, paused in the hall, and said, “Going out, cell is on, see ya!” Then took off down the hall and out of the house.
Stone blinked, then closed the door and went back to bed. He rolled over to the side that Ava had slept on, and snuggled into the sheets, trying to get back to sleep. She had met him at the door when he got back that morning, and told him that she had to return to her real life for a day or two, and take care of some things. He completely understood, and made a ‘date’ to stop by her house later that evening.
May’s funeral was the following day, and although he would have liked to be there for Ava, he knew he couldn’t. The best he could do was offer her comfort and leave before dawn.
~~~~~~
Ava wandered around her house, dusting an occasional thing here and there while heavy rock music played in the background. She had only been home a few times in the past week, and found that she’d rather be at Stone’s. She sighed, knowing that it would be damn near impossible to stop this relationship come September.
She had already talked to her children, breaking the news that 'Aunt' May had died, and comforted her daughter on the phone as she cried. Ava had never felt so useless as a parent than that moment when all she could offer were words and not a hug.
Ava missed her children now more than ever, and turned the volume up on the stereo to make some much needed noise in the house. She didn’t hear the knocking on the door until the song stopped, and she hurried to it, knowing that it wouldn’t be Stone, but hoping it would be someone to talk with.
“Hey sis!”
She smiled at her older brother as he stood on the step, his three kids and wife behind him. “Sam!” She gave him a hug and invited them in.
Her three nephews ran straight through to the back yard, no doubt tired at being cooped up in the car for over twenty hours. Her brother pulled back and gave her a sad look. “Sorry about your friend,” he said. “Heard it on the news coming down.”
Ava nodded. “Thanks.” She sat across the coffee table from them, suddenly glad that she had come home today. “What are you doing in Vancouver?”
“Job relocation,” Sam said. “Wanted to surprise you.” He smiled slightly.
“And?” she prompted.
“And, well… our accommodations were placed on hold because of this friggin’ Science Fiction Convention, and some of the weirdos not leaving when they’re suppose to.”
Ava laughed at her brother. “Say no more,” she told him. “Stay here, for as long as you want...or, at least until the kids come back from their grandparents.”
Sam looked relieved. “You don’t mind?” He looked suspicious as she shook her head. “Why don’t you mind?
“Sam,” his wife warned as she pushed blonde hair back from her tired face. “Shut up and thank your sister.”
~~~~~~~~
Stone parked his Mustang outside of Ava’s house, got out, walked to the door and knocked. He took a step back when a man answered the door, and looked at the address to make sure he was at the right place.
“Yeah?” the man asked gruffly, then gave a muffled curse as Ava suddenly appeared, pushing him out of the way with her hip.
“Get lost, Sam,” she said as she slipped out the door and stood beside Stone on the step. She turned and kicked at the door, satisfied at a muffled ‘ow!’ that came from the other side.
“Should I come back?” Stone asked, not quite sure what was going on. He gave Ava a kiss when she stood on her tiptoes in front of him.
“My brother and his family landed today, and things are a little hectic,” she explained. “They’re going to be staying here until their housing gets settled.”
“Oh,” Stone said, suddenly disappointed that not only would be not be alone with her that evening, but that she would be spending less time with him. He shoved away the selfish feeling that gave him.
Ava closed her eyes slightly as she watched him. “This would be the point where you offer to let me stay at your place until they leave.”
Stone stared for a few minutes until he caught on. “Oh. Oh!” He cleared his throat. “Gee, Ava, that’s going to be fairly crowded,” he said in a corny 1950’s sitcom voice. “Hey, I have a nifty idea! Why don’t you stay at my place for a while? There’s a couch in the den that’s real comfortable.”
She glared at him. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy sleeping on it.”
“Ouch.” He reached out and took her hand in his. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night, then?” He brought the hand up to kiss it. “Spend some time with your family…and, I should go so you can do that.”
“You don’t have to leave.”
He gave her a half smile. “Family is important. Treasure every moment you get.” He gave her a kiss, then walked off the step and back to his car.
~~~~~~~~~~
The funeral the next day was hard, and Ava spent most of the afternoon after it sitting around Kari’s kitchen table as the two along with Michelle, drank spiked coffee and told stories about May.
Kari, who was getting well past drunk, starting crying over her friend, then suddenly asked Ava if she was still bedding the sexy guy in black.
Ava paused, wondering for the millionth time about Kari’s train of thought, then nodded. She told them how she was gong to be staying with him while her brother was in town, and that seemed to set Kari off to crying even harder.
“I’m so happy for you!” she cried. “It’s about time you found someone!”
Ava finally pulled herself away from her friends as Kari decided she needed to lie down, and caught a drive home with Michelle’s father, who had come to pick her up.
She got out of the car, surprised to see a Mustang in her driveway, and panicked that Stone was alone with her brother. Sam had given the phrase ‘over protective brother’ a new meaning, and had harassed nearly every guy she had brought home while still in school, and university. He had never liked Peter, and had even given her an actual ‘I told you so’ when she left him.
Ava slowly opened the door to her house and slipped in, stopping when she heard her brother laughing from the living room. She stood in the doorway, shocked to see Sam pass one of her photo albums to Stone and point at a picture.
Stone smiled, then turned his head when he sensed her presence. “Hi,” he said warmly.
“Hey, sis,” Sam said. “Why didn’t you tell us about Stone?”
Ava shrugged. “I dunno, Sam. Does the phrase ‘hurt my sister and I cut off your balls’ right a bell?”
Stone stared and stopped himself from placing a protective arm over his groin as Sam rolled his eyes at his younger sister. “I just said that to scare off the jerks.”
“You said that to everyone.”
“They were all jerks,” Sam pointed out. “Especially that loser you ended up marrying.”
Stone sensed anger coming from Ava, which she hid rather well. “I’m not up for playing ‘Pick on Ava’ tonight, okay?” She looked at Stone. “I’ll go get my bag.”
Sam turned to Stone as she left. “Ava ever tell you about good ol’ Pete?”
Assuming that was her ex-husband, Stone leaned back slightly. “Didn’t ask, don’t really care, “ he said nonchalantly. “We all have relationships in our past that we’d rather forget about, as I’m sure your sister does.”
“Yeah?” Sam asked, missing the point of what Stone was saying. “You ever marry?”
“Long time ago,” Stone said, wishing Ava would hurry up. As nice as her brother was, he was rather nosey.
“Divorced?”
“Widowed,” Stone corrected him, since technically it was the truth. He stood as Ava appeared in the doorway, and smiled. “Ready to go?”
Ava nodded, then faced her brother. “My cell number is by the phone. I’ve already called the kids to tell them where I’ll be, and everyone else has my cell. Just put the mail on the hall table, and anything that looks important, give me a call.” She held up a key. “Fits front and back. Lose it and I’ll kick your butt.”
Her brother snatched the key with a sigh. “Get going, okay.” He paused, then gave her a hug. “Thanks for letting us stay, Ava.” He pulled back, then offered a hand to Stone who shook it. “Pleasure to meet you, Stone.”
Stone returned the compliment, then took the bag from Ava and held the door open for her. She went to the car in the driveway as he put the bag in the trunk then they both climbed in and drove away.
“I’m sorry,” Ava said. “I didn’t think you’d be here until later.”
Stone smiled, the streetlights casting wonderful shadows over the planes of his face. “Don’t worry about it. He cares about you.”
“He’s an over-protective dork head.”
“Dork head?” Stone laughed. He stopped at a red light and looked at her. “So, what’s it gong to be, my lady? Dinner, movie, walk through the park, followed by screwing under a tree?”
Ava looked at him noticing for the first time that he wasn’t wearing his prerequisite long black jacket and biker attire. He looked more like he did when he was around his home, dressed in black pants, and a tan shirt that set of his skin tone to perfection. “Don’t you have to go kill a vampire, or something?”
“I’d rather screw you,” he said seriously. “But, if you want me to slay something, I will.” He smiled as the light changed and he drove. “Dark-Hunters get nights off. It’s not overly busy this time of the week… no idea why, but we rotate the days and I’m free.”
“Could we go to the cemetery and see if the angel on May’s stone really lights up?”
Stone exhaled and bit his lip. “That’s a really bad place for someone who has no soul in their body,” he said.
“What?” Ava sounded confused.
“Artemis takes a Dark-Hunter’s soul in return for the vengeance and immortal servitude thing.” He sighed. “That’s why Daimon’s can’t sense us. Also why I can’t do cemeteries… too many wandering souls, and an empty vessel is too big of a temptation for some.” He glanced at her. “I’m sorry.”
She nodded slowly, never really thinking before about the ‘no soul’ part. “But, without a soul, how can you feel?”
He shrugged slightly, completely uncomfortable with the discussion. “I have a soul…it’s just not with me.” He sighed audibly. “It’s too hard to explain, and I really don’t like to think about it.”
“Why not?”
Had she not sounded completely sincere, then he would have ignored her. He clenched his jaw slightly, before answering her. “Because only cold hearted monsters have no soul,” he said. “And…”
“You’re not a cold hearted monster,” Ava interrupted.
“You haven’t seen me angry,” Stone whispered. He pulled over to the side of the road and parked, then faced her. He opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind.
“What?” Ava asked.
“Nothing,” he gave her a lame smile.
Ava arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “There is absolutely nothing you could tell me that would surprise me at this point. So, might as well just come out and say it.”
He opened his mouth to talk, jumping in surprise when his cellular phone rang. He quickly checked the number, grimacing, then answered.
“Yes?”
“Don’t tell her,” a voice came over the line. Stone pulled the phone away to check the number again, then put it back to his ear. “Yes, I know it’s Acheron’s number that’s showing up.”
“Okay,” Stone said slowly. “And, is he there?”
“He’s here,” the voice said. “But, he can’t tell you not to tell her, because it’ll mess up something, and hell, we all know how that ends up.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Stone was trying to place the voice, but was having no luck.
“We’ve never met, “ the man said, as if reading his thoughts. “And yes, I’m reading your thoughts, and no, I won’t fuck off.” He sounded more amused than annoyed, which probably boded well for Stone. “Anyway. Don’t tell her, cause if you do, I’ll know and most likely pull the hellfire of damnation down on you just for pissing me off.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You do that,” the man disconnected the call.
Stone blinked in surprise, then slowly closed his phone and looked at Ava. “Ever feel like you’ve entered the Twilight Zone?”
“Since the first night I met you.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Savitar tossed the phone back to Ash, who placed it in one of his pockets. “That man is far too nice to be a Dark-Hunter.”
Ash tilted his head in thought, watching as Savitar wandered around the throne room. “You’ve never seen him angry,” Ash said. “Besides, he’s got an evil streak in him that loves to piss off the other Hunters.”
“Want to switch jobs for a while?” Savitar said.
Ash raised an eyebrow. “You sure you want my fringe benefits?”
Savitar shivered in disgust. “Yuck, gaaaa, no way. You can keep the bitch.” He sighed. “It was a thought.” He stood. “Gotta go hit some waves and Zen. Later, non-hated being.”
Ash shook his head in slight amusement. ‘Non-hated being’ was about as close to a compliment that Savitar could give. The god had a saying that ‘there are only two beings in the universe I care for…’ and Ash had yet to figure out who the two were. He supposed that one was Savitar himself, since that would fit right in with the god’s attitude, but he couldn’t figure the second, and he had spent millenniums trying to.
Savitar lived by his own rules, and did what he wanted to, sometimes not even caring what the outcome would be. As long as he had a wave to surf, the universe could go to hell around him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Why did you get divorced?”
Ava gave him an evaluating look across the restaurant table, then shrugged. “Got pregnant, got married, got pregnant again, got hit, got out.”
He watched as she played with her coffee mug as anger started in him over her words. No man should ever hit a woman, and it was something he firmly believed, even after what his own wife had done to him. “Do your kids ever see him?”
“No,” she told him. “All they know is that their father loves them, but he has some issues that he has to work through, and things he has to deal with before they can see him.”
Stone reached across the table, and took her hand in his. “Let’s take a walk on the beach,” he said. “Maybe a little skinny dipping.” He smiled as she blushed.
“Well… I was hoping for some dessert…”
“I’ll make sure you get some,” he said, his voice laced with innuendo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miguel opened the fridge and reached for the bowl of strawberries that were on the top shelf, only to come up empty handed. He glanced at the door, noticing that the two bottles of whipped cream were also gone. He straightened as he recalled hearing laughs and giggles coming from Stone’s room earlier, and shook his head.
“Yuck,” he muttered. Although he was glad that Stone had a woman in his life instead of the one night stands that he used to thrive on, Miguel was having a hard time accepting it was an old teacher of his. Especially an old teacher that he used to fantasize about at one time…then again, he didn’t think there wasn’t a guy in that school that hadn’t fantasized about Ms. Delen at one time or another.
He’d grown out of it, and held no fantasies of her now, but there were times when curiosity got the better of him and he let his mind wander… such as now with the strawberries and whipped cream.
Miguel looked up as something flashed in the corner of his eye, and smiled. “Evening, Ash.”
Ash gave him a mock salute, then went to the leather couch, nearly fell into it, and pointed at the television. Miguel smiled slightly as The Flintstones came on the screen.
“Can I get you anything?”
“No, I’m good,” Ash replied as he made himself more comfortable. “How’s the girlfriend?”
“Good,” Miguel answered slowly, wondering how he knew about her. “You’re spooky when you do that.”
Ash removed his dark glasses, looked over, and gave Miguel a chilling smile that showed both fangs and his silver swirling eyes.
Miguel shivered. “I hate when you do that. Creeps me out every time.”
“That’s why I do it.” Ash turned back to the television. “By the way, there’s more berries in the fridge if you want them.”
“If you’re going to stock my fridge, a couple bottles of Dom would be nice,” Stone said as he walked into the living room. He sat on the chair by the couch and leaned back in relaxation. “Take the berries and go, Migs.” He waited until his Squire grabbed the bowl and left, then looked at Ash.
“Can’t talk, watching,” Ash said before Stone had a chance to open his mouth.
“Then I’ll talk, and you can listen.” Stone paused as silver eyes flicked towards him in annoyance before going back to the television. “I don’t like it when people, and by people, I may be referring to gods here specifically, or generally, or not at all… anyway, I don’t like it when beings start to play around and decide to involve me in their schemes.”
“Don’t blame you,” Ash said, his eyes never leaving the screen.
“Who called me last night?”
“You don’t know the name, so telling you wouldn’t matter.”
“Am I going to die?”
Ash finally looked away from the screen. “You’re already dead, Stone. Happened quite a few centuries ago, remember?”
Stone growled slightly. “You’re such a…” He sighed in disgust and tapped a hand on the arm of the chair he was sitting in. “Ava cries and my eyes turn brown…I can’t sense anything and I get this disgusting…tickle, I guess… up my spin. I’ve talked to enough former Hunter’s to know that this is probably my out clause.”
“Possibly.” Ash pointed at the television, turning it off.
“I don’t know if I can trust someone enough to put my life in their hands,” Stone said slowly.
Ash knew that feeling all too well. “When, and if, the time comes, you’ll have to trust.”
Stone rubbed his fingers over his eyes. “Staying long?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Couple days” Ash replied.
“Guest cottage is all yours,” Stone said, referring to the small building that sat to the left of the main house. “I’ll get Migs to clean it up a bit.”
They both looked as someone walked into the room, and Ash noticed the way Stone’s whole demeanor changed when he looked at Ava. Ash pushed down the jealousy he always felt when one of his Hunters found the love of their life, and turned to look at the woman.
Ava stopped walking when she saw the swirling silver orbs that were Ash’s eyes, and then shook her head slightly as if to say ‘figures’. She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge.
“Oooh, Dom Pérignon.”
Stone looked at Ash, who was now ignoring him as he turned the television back on.
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Comments
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oh love that last few lines... soo sweet! and yet kick-ass
when stone asks ash for the other guys name and ash doesnt give him a name there is a word missing... i think it was 'know' -
ooooo Stone is ignoring Ash
Wow..hmm that could for sure lead up to many things in the next chapter...
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