She was wearing a neon green bustier, purple mini skirt, black and pink striped leggins, and spiked army boots. Her long blue hair framed a perky, cute face that looked no older than twenty, although Aiden knew Simi to be even older than Acheron.
A charonte demon, Simi could take human form, or her natural black and red demon form, complete with wings and black horns. Altantean gods had managed to tame the charonte demons, who are extremely violent and amoral, and they could bond with someone, becoming a tattoo on their bonded’s body, and appearing to protect them when needed. Simi was Ash’s bonded Charonte, and like a daughter to him.
“The Simi wants to fly!” she said in her sing-song childlike voice as she bounced in front of Aiden.
“Sounds great, Simi,” Aiden said with a smile. “But since this is hunting season, we’re going to cloak ourselves so we don’t get spotted.”
“The Simi don’t want to wear a cloak.”
“I mean use our magick so that no one will see us.”
“Oh.” Simi thought for a moment. “If peoples does see us, the Simi will just barbeque them and eat them.”
“No eating people,” Aiden said.
Simi blew her a small raspberry. “Aiden sound like akri,” she said, using the name she always used when refering to Ash. “No eating people, no barbecuing Dark-Hunters, no buying bridges.” She placed her hands on her hips with a pout.
Aiden had to smile at the Simi. “Let’s go flying, then I’ll treat you to a movie.”
“Chick flick?” she asked hopefully.
“Sure.”
~~~~~~~~~
As an Arcadian, a Were-Hunter who held a human heart and could shapeshift into animals, Aiden loved flying, there was no denying it. At times, she wondered if there was any Katagaria in her ancestry. The other branch of Were-Hunters held animal hearts, and could transform into humans. It would explain how she felt more at ease in the air than on the ground.
They flew over the mountains together, both invisible from the ground, but able to see each other. Simi swooped down low, and returned to the air clutching something in her hands.
Aiden watched as the charonte breathed fire on the small rodent, then plopped it in her mouth. Adien turned her gaze back to the ground below, circling when she caught a flash coming from a field. They flew around above what looked like an abandoned cabin, although Aiden couldn’t help but feel that there was something there.
“Movie time.”
Aiden jerked at Simi’s voice. That demon had a one-track mind at times. Flapping again, she changed direction and flew away from the cabin and headed towards a grove of trees. Both females landed, then reverted to human form. Aiden quickly willed clothes on to her body, then smiled as they teleported themselves to the alley behind the movie theatre.
Aiden really liked the Rytis, an invisible stream that moves through everything, allowing Were-Hunters to travel through time. It sure beat rush hour traffic.
~~~~~~~~
Aiden and Simi walked out of the theatre, sniffing from the ‘Chick Flick’ they had seen, and stopped when they spotted Ash leaning against a wall across the street. He was dressed in his usual long black coat and leather pants, but this time had left the shirt off. His bare chest barely moved with each breath, but it was enough to make every woman look, and a few men scowl.
Ash ignored them all as he waited for the two to join him. “Good movie?”
Simi sniffed again. “Men are mean.”
“Ah, chick flick, I take it?” Ash said, glad that he had missed out on it. Give him horror or comedy any day over some sappy love story. He stood from the wall. “Walk and talk.”
Aiden and Simi fell into step beside him as they made their way through a nearly deserted park to some destination that only Ash seemed to know.
They told him about the flight through the mountains and Aiden explained the feeling she had about the cabin. She looked around as they stopped in the middle of a small clearing, trying to figure out why they were there.
“Are you sleeping all right?”
Aiden blinked at him. “Huh?”
“Are you sleeping all right?” he repeated. He was trying to think of a way to stay with her for a few days, and nothing was coming to mind. Had she been a Dark-Hunter, he would have just shown up, grabbed a spare bedroom, and defied her to ask him to leave. If he did that to her, he knew that she would ask him to leave, and probably show him the door while she was at it. That attitude was what he liked about her.
Aiden shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know.” She scratched the back of her neck. “I’m still having the dreams, yes, and they wake me, but they’re becoming less frequent.”
He knew she was lying, and knew that she most likely hadn’t slept for more than a few hours at a time since it happened. “I see.”
She stared at him while Simi played in one of the trees. She knew he was powerful, and that he had to ability to alter perceptions and memories, and wondered if this was his way of approaching the subject without coming right out and saying it. “Can I ask a favor?”
“Depends.”
She looked up at him. “Can you erase the images from my mind?” she asked calmly. “Not of who they were, or that they’re dead…just the images of seeing them dead.”
Ash stared at her. “I don’t…”
“Ash, please.” Aiden stopped with a sigh, deciding to tell the truth. “I can’t sleep, I can’t even close my eyes without seeing them. I sit alone in that condo because I can’t join the others until I forgive myself, and I’m too tired to even want to think about that.” She watched as he stared.
“Never mind,” she said as she took a step back, then immediately launched herself into the air, changing mid-jump and flying away.
Stupid, stupid, her mind chided as she flew back the way they had come. Why would the head Dark-Hunter help a ‘Were’, anyway… Her wings flapped harder as she flew. The ground went by unnoticed below her as she headed straight for a building, changing course at the last minute to fly around it. Her talons scraped the surface, letting her know how close she had come to harm.
It was how she flew when she was in a mood like this; dangerous, deadly, and not really caring if she couldn’t avoid something in time. Catching sight of a large shadow below, she kept one red eye on it as she flew. It followed, and for a moment she thought it might be Simi, but disgarded that idea because this shadow was flying with a purpose. Had it been Simi, she would have been all over the sky. Besides, Simi never flew where people could see her. No, this wasn’t her friend, nor was it another bird.
Her self pity gone, Aiden titled her wings to slow, sighing in her mind as the shape also slowed. Not good. Not good. Her worries were confirmed as a large head look straight at her, red eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Not sure which demon it was, and not really caring, Aiden suddenly changed direction and flapped hard, rising to catch a current and using it to her advantage.
She flew without reason as the demon followed. It never closed the distance between them, although it eyed her hungrily from time to time. She could lead it back to where Ash had been, but she didn’t want to endanger any of her friends, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to lead it back to her place. She couldn’t use magick in her animal state, and didn’t want to give this demon those few seconds it would take her to land, revert and teleport her body someplace else.
Trying to lose her tail, she flew recklessly through the city’s skyscrapers, nearly smashing into a few of them herself. Her heart was pounding and her breath was getting shallow as tiredness worked it’s way through her wings. Normally, she would have been able to fly cricles around this clown all night, but she was still not at one hundred percent after the injuries her mate had dealt her.
She slowed when she realized that the shadow had vansihed, and looked around for it, anticipating an attack from any angle. Ash, if you can hear me, tell Simi I won’t be flying later. I’m sorry.
Her wings went straight, then curved as something blurred to her left, and she screeched, raising talons as something large flew straight into her. Clawing as hard as she could, she struggled to move from the weight that was now pushing her down towards the ground.
Fuck this! She turned in the direction she was heading, flapped hard enough to hurt, and flew straight for the ground, aiding her attacker with her own wings. She envisioned prey, and at the last moment, changed direction and flew straight up. She could sense the surprise of the demon, and instant before it smashed into the ground and disintegrated into dust.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aiden landed on her patio with a thud, reverting to her human form and laying there as her breathing caught up with her. Feeling cold, she didn’t have the energy to summon clothes, and clenched her chattering teeth together as her eyes closed in sleep.
The next morning she stumbled out of the bedroom, pulling on a housecoat, then stopped in surprise at the figure sitting on her couch, watching her television.
“Uh, morning,” she said as she tied the belt around her waist.
“Aiden all right?”
She smiled at Simi. “Just tired.”
Simi looked at the patio door, which Aiden suddenly realized was open. “Simi wanted to fly over the mountains again.”
Ash turned from looking out over the city. He entered the living room and stopped in front of Aiden.
Aiden waved her hands in front of her face in confision. “Whoa. Okay, wait. Who wants to explain to me…well…how I got from the patio to my bed.”
“I put you there,” he answered. “Thought you might get a little, oh, frozen? if you stayed out there all night.”
“How’d you even know…” she held a hand up. “Never mind.” There were things that the man ‘just knew’ that made him downright scary at times.
“New tattoo?” he asked, pointing at the general area of her breast.
Aiden gave him a crooked grin, knowing that he was referring to her ‘eagle in flight’ that she had over her left breast. “Yes.”
“What happened last night?” Ash asked, although Aiden thought he probably already knew.
“A demon chased me and I flew him into the ground.” She walked to the kitchen, turned on the coffee maker and glanced over her sholder. “Want breakfast, Simi?”
”Yes, please!” She turned, pleased, as a large plate of food appeared in front of her. “Thank you!”
Aiden watched as the bottle of barbeque sauce came out, then she looked at Ash, then turned back to the counter.
Ash watched her curiously, slightly amused at her attitude. He knew plenty of Were-Hunters, and a lot of avians, but she was certainly different. An Arcadian who seemed to prefer her animal form over her human one, and didn’t like to use her magick all the time, had him slightly confused when he had first met her over a hundred years before. At times he liked to use his magick just to see what she would say. Most times, as with him supplying Simi her breakfast just then, she would just give him a stare and turn away.
“About last night?”
She poured a coffee, then turned to face him. “What about it?”
“Getting rid of the memories won’t help.”
Aiden sighed, looked at her stereo, and then back when music started to blare through the room. Simi squeeled in delight as Ash cringed, then he motioned and the noise lowered to a tolerable level. Aiden sighed in disgust, changing the song to one she knew would annoy the hell out of him. He cringed as the melodious ‘boy band’ surounded him, and held his hands up in mock surrender.
Aiden smirked, changed the music to The Doors, then hopped easily to sit on the end of the counter. “Do you ever feel like going to sleep and actually hoping that come morning, you won’t open your eyes?”
He kept the surprise off his face as he looked at her. He hoped that more times than she would know. Eleven thousand years was a long time to live, and although if pressed for an answer, he would admit to not wanting to miss any of that time, but there were instances when he just wanted to sleep for forever. He leaned against the counter table and put his hands on the surface slightly behind him. Dressed all in black, he looked sligtly out of place amist her airy colours and classic decore.
She took another drink of her coffee. “I’ve got perfect recall,” she said slowly. “I remember everything, everyone I’ve seen or heard. There’s a lot of info up here” she tapped her temple, “and I’d rather not have certain memories in there. They won’t fade in time…I’ll always vividly remember, to the day I die, what I saw that day.” She stared at the floor by his feet.
“I’ll see the carnage…which even for a bird of prey, was extremely violent.” She paused for another drink of coffee. “The hatred on his face is etched in my mind, and his words…”
Ash watched as she trailed off. Usually, he would tell one of his Dark-Hunters to bury the pain so that it wouldn’t come out at the wrong time. He couldn’t tell her that, since she would remember regardless. Time wouldn’t heal this wound, and he felt compassion for the avian.
“Akri?”
Ash motioned behind him, and another plate of food appeared before Simi.
“Thank you,” she said, “But the Simi wanted you to look outside.”
Not liking the sound of that, he turned, not knowing why he was even surprised to see three figures on the patio. Aiden hopped off the counter, stalked to the patio, and glared.
“Get… the fuck…off my patio,” she hissed. She stood inside, and her look dared them to reach in to grab her. They were all tall, golden haired and handsome, although the cruel glint in their amber eyes made them look lethal.
“I need to talk to you,” a man said, his long, perfect hair blowing in the early morning breeze.
“Like last time?” she asked. “Fuck off.”
“Nice company you keep,” he replied, glaring at Simi, who was looking at him like she had already found what she wanted for lunch.
“What’s the hold up?” a man with him asked. “You used to live here… go inside.”
Aiden folded her arms over her chest. “You’re not welcome here.”
“You can’t hide behind Acheron indefinatley,” the first man said. “Eventually your boyfriend will leave, and I’ll be back.”
Aiden took a step, and stopped as the patio door suddenly slammed shut. She motioned for it to open, and turned with a snarl. “Open the damn door, Ash.”
He walked to the door, and looked down at the three standing there. “You go out there, and you’ll kill him. That’s not the way it’s suppose to happen.” He glared at the leader of the three, and smiled slowly. He had never liked Aiden’s mate, Pierce, although the man’s actions had surprised even him.
“She’s under my protection,” he said. “Which means she’s under Artemis’ protection. You touch her and you’ll end up on a spit slowly turning over a firepit.”
“Fuck you, Acheron.”
“You’re not my type.”
“Pierce?” Aiden said slowly. “I want to talk to you alone.” She looked at the men with him. “Fly away, now.”
Pierce nodded slightly and waited as the other two reverted to eagle form and flew away. He glared at her company. “What about them?”
Aiden looked up at the wall of muscle beside her. “Could you take a look at my computer? It keeps giving me a ‘blue screen of death’.”
Ash turned and walked away. “Dark-Hunter leader one day, computer tech the next…” He paused by the couch. “Come on, Simi.”
“Simi want to stay in case Aiden need him eaten.”
Aiden hid a smile as Pierce’s eyes went round in shock. “Don’t eat him,” Aiden said. “He’d give you massive indigestion.” She waited until her friends went into her spare bedroom/office and then turned to the patio door again. “Who was the demon after me last night?”
“What?”
She could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t surprised by her question. “Name please.”
He sighed. “This is stupid, come on. Let me in.” He placed a hand on the door, then hissed and pulled it back. “Damn it, Aiden!”
“Touch it again, and I’ll give you a bigger shock.”
“I thought you didn’t like using your magick.”
“I make exceptions when I deal with assholes and murderers.”
He sighed and looked away briefly. “Fine. Look. I came here to see if you’ve changed your mind about joining us.”
“Join…” she breathed deeply to calm herself. “Fuck off, Pierce. You know…if I could get a divorce, I would, you…jerk!”
His smile was infuriating. “Eagles mate for life, sweetcheeks,” he said. “And I don’t appreciate you giving away my property to a Dark-Hunter.”
She stared, confused, until she realized what he meant. “Okay.. you’re wrong on so many levels that it’s sadly funny. One…I’m not your property. Two…I’m not sleeping with Ash. Three…You tried to kill me.”
“So, you’re not going to join us?”
“Hmmm… let me think,” she said sarcastically, placing a finger on her chin in thought. “Join a group of avians that sold their honour to carve out their own little empire in some backwater place that they wouldn’t be caught in unless completely lost.”
“You’re a bitch.”
“Nooo…that would be a female canine.” She shook her head slightly. “If you ever think that I’m going to forget what you and your merry flock of murderers did to your own families, then you’re stupider than I thought.”
“You don’t understand…”
“Gee, Pierce. What’s to understand? You butcher thirty avians, and I’m suppose to be cool with that?”
”You’re my mate,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“I’m not the placating female from eighty-five years ago who thought it was her duty to agree to mate with you. I could kill you without a second thought.”
“Aiden…”
“You best go,” she said. “Before Simi decides she wants to find out how you’d taste drenched in barbeque sauce.”
He stared, then nodded and vanished.
Aiden let out a breath as he disappeared from site, then rubbed her hands over her face. Her chest started to hurt as the memories of that night came back in full detail.
Walking in to the apartment below her to find the entire family slaughtered, and teleporting herself from apartment to apartment to find the same thing. She had been happy when she arrived at her place, and found her mate still alive. He listened, concerned, as she rambled on about finding the bodies, and then tried to tell her that it was her imagination.
He gave her a rare hug, and she pulled back, noticing for the first time that his clothes were covered in blood. He immediately willed new clothes to his body, but it had been too late. She had been too stunned to do anything as his hands went around her throat, and couldn’t even scream as the pain of a knife sliced through her ribs.
Pierce tried to explain himself as her life drained over the floor. Thanks to her memory, she could recall each and every word and facial characteristic as he spoke. Part of her screamed out to Artemis as she lay there, ignoring the voice in the back of her head that told her that she wasn’t gong to die. She wanted to die, wanted the vengence that Artemis could provide in exchange for an eternity of servitude.
Gathing all her remaining strength, she pictured the hospital clinic that her kind used, and willed herself there, hoping she could make it. She arrived in the middle of the hall, and was immediately set upon by doctors.
Afterwards, the remaining eagles, wanting a stand-in for her mate, blamed her for the events. They said that she should have been aware of her mate’s thoughts and plans. Only the fact that he had tried to kill her had saved her from their angry justice. They moved their surviving kin to another part of the city, leaving her to deal with her own demons in solitude.
Aiden rocked on the floor as the memories continued, not noticing that both Ash and Simi had returned and were both kneeling on the floor beside her, comforting hands placed on her shoulders and back.
“Akri make Aiden better?”
Ash looked over Aiden’s back at Simi. “I can’t. She needs the memories…for now.”
“Oh,” Simi said, understanding. “This is another Akri thing that he won’t tell anyone, but needs to do.”
“I think so,” he said, not sure if he understood her correctly.
~~~~~~~~~
Pierce Falconidae paced from one end of the room to the other, then back again. He was pissed at the day’s events, and even more pissed that his mate had said no to him. Adding to that insult was finding Acheron in his apartment, looking at home as he leaned on his counter, talking to his mate.
“Damn it!” he said loudly. Running his hands over his face, he tried to think. He hadn’t meant to nearly kill her that night, and only wanted to harm her enough to take her someplace and lock her away until she was needed. He’d sapped her powers, a little perk he had picked up along the ways of learning his magick powers, and had tried to explain what he was doing. Then, the little bitch had to teleport her way to safety. He had underestimated her powers then, but he wouldn’t be so stupid next time.
Now, she had a freaky girl and Acheron guarding her. And Pierce only had three days left to pull this off, or it would be lost to him forever.
Author notes
Don't correct the grammar for Simi... she talks that way.
In a list
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Comments
1 - 7 of 7
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Simi with her barbecue sause always makes me laught, but good job with the story soo far, thought now i'm excieted to know about the demon XD
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Loved it! Funny and cute! Simi has to be my favorite for the time being!
Off to read more and fall in love with the story!
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So effing great!!!!!!! I love this chapter. I want to read more!!
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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very awesome. i think im finding that weres seem more powerful than dark hunters when it comes to magick.
either way im glad that simis character has rounded out. she was only mentioned in the last one and now we get to seem her great personality.
also i love the way that aidens memories are revealed to us... not just told but explained as the memory itself.
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Simi is too cool, and your description is bang-on for her. “No eating people, no barbecuing Dark-Hunters, no buying bridges.” THAT'S funny!
Error that I noticed - Aiden and Simi walked out fo the' ... fo?
yeh! Drama, intrigue and a complete prick of a mate. This puppy has it all. So, IS Ash with Aiden?beginning: 5, plot: 5, ending: 4, characters: 5.
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oooooo I wish I was like Simi
Some ppl just have all the fun sighs
Only three days..and so much can happen in three days...
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Well, I already hate Pierce and I'll be hating him for as long as this story is... unless he does something to redeem himself. This story is really good, and I'm off to read the other chapters you've already posted.
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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