Chapter 40

Aleda stared at the wooden claws in his hands.

“W-when did you—? But… W-why?” she stuttered. She looked up at him with wide eyes. “You said…”

“I changed my mind,” he said simply. “Still interested?”

She nodded hesitantly, still shocked by his turnaround.

He smirked and turned towards the stairs. “Come on, then.”

Aleda hurriedly followed behind him, clutching the training claws and their substitutes close to her chest. “Wait!” she called when they reached the front door. “I need a coat.” She hurried back to the hall closet and pulled one out, hoping that it would be enough to keep her warm.

Back in the living room, Talia was negotiating with Aleda’s father. “Don’t you worry, Alex,” she said. “You know I’ll have her back in one piece. It’s just lunch for the girls.”

“And what about your brother?” Papá asked doubtfully. “He is not a girl, as far as I know.”

Aleda shot an amused look at Ryan.

“Oh, he’s got errands and whatnot,” Talia replied, waving dismissively. “Goodness only knows what. It’s not like he ever tells me anything, the big lug.”

“Alejandro, it would be good for her to get out,” Mom interjected. She tucked her violin under her arm and gestured towards the three of them with the bow. “I think it’d be nice for her to be friends with our cousins. Don’t you remember how much time we all spent together during the war?”

Papá finally nodded, grudgingly. “Okay,” he said. “But she must be home no later than sunset!”

Talia grinned. “You got it, Alex! See you cats later!”

When they had finally made it to Talia’s car, Aleda breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there, she almost hadn’t made it outside.

“Hey, thanks for your help,” she said to Talia.

“Anytime, Little Leda! That papa of yours, bless him, is overprotective and a half. I figured you could use all the backup you could get.”

Aleda rolled her eyes up towards the sky with a grateful smirk. “Yeah,” she chuckled, “You could… you could definitely say that. So, um, what’s the plan?”

Talia looked back at her brother then up at Aleda. “I’ve got some errands, actually. But the two of you could just go on without me. I feel all weird hunting during the day anyway. So we’ll have to stop at the apartment first. But—hey! Why don’t you borrow some of my old thrift-store clothes? If you keep shredding your own stuff I think your parents just might figure out what’s going on.”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Aleda agreed. “That is, as long as you think you’ve got something that would fit me,” she added with a rueful smile.

Talia sighed dramatically. “There you go again, making fun of my height,” she teased.

“Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean.”

“Hey, Little Leda, count yourself lucky to have a few curves. You have no idea how much you’re driving the guys wild.” She sighed and looked down at herself. “Hell, I wish I had a nice set of b***s. Pizza Boy says he doesn’t care, but I just know there’s been guys who’ve turned me down because of it.”

Ryan shifted uncomfortably in the back. “Could we not talk about this, please?” he asked. “Not really the best subject when your brother is in the backseat.”

“What’s the matter, Zeus?” Talia jumped on the opening, her face alight with an innocent grin. “Don’t you think Leda here’s got a nice rack?”

Ryan looked determinedly out the window. Talia just laughed.

They made it to the apartment a short while later. Ryan slapped together a couple of sandwiches while Talia dragged Aleda into her bedroom to try on some clothes. She emerged after a few minutes wearing a turtleneck and two baggy sweaters. Extra padding, as Talia called it. Aleda called it bloody sweltering.

Ryan had to suppress a grin when he saw her. Aleda tugged awkwardly on her multiple hems and frowned at him. He didn’t say a word, just handed her one of the two sandwiches he held, although he couldn’t keep the amusement out of his eyes. Aleda looked at it. Peanut butter and jelly. Fair enough. She sat next to him at the counter and ate it while he went to work with her training claws.

The leather straps over each finger fit through slots in the wooden claws, and it was only a few minutes before he had switched all ten. He handed them to her when he was done.

“Here,” he said, “Try this.”

Aleda stuffed the last bit of sandwich into her mouth and picked one up. She was able to strap it loosely to her left hand, but she fumbled with the last buckle. There was no way to keep the leather pad in place and cinch it at the same time with only one hand. She shook it impatiently.

That only made it worse.

Ryan reached out and caught her hand before she managed to shake off the claws completely. He smirked and practiced hands quickly fastened the straps, pausing only occasionally to adjust the wood at her fingertips. She made a face when she saw the look on his. Daring him to say something about her perpetual clumsiness. He just shook his head slightly and tightened one last strap. Aleda flexed her hand when he was done, testing out the new claws. They felt more or less the same, if not slightly lighter than she was used to. She hoped they wouldn’t break. She set her hand down and smiled faintly.

“They fit great,” she said. “Thanks.”

Ryan shrugged and took back her hand to undo the straps. “It was nothing. You needed them.”

“Oh, go on and get out of here, you crazy kids,” Talia called from the couch. “You wait too much longer you’ll be all out of sunshine!”

They both looked up. It had already been over half an hour since they had left Aleda’s house, and the longer they were gone the more suspicious Papá would be. They quickly gathered coats and claws, though Talia refused to let Aleda take her own coat. Unfortunately, it would be Ryan’s motorcycle again. Talia insisted they could easily be back long after she needed to be at work, and there was no way she would be driving that bike of his to the Old Navy. If nothing else, she didn’t have a license for it.

Well, in a way Aleda was getting used to this. She followed Ryan out to the motorcycle and slipped on the spare helmet. She didn’t get on, though. He glanced back, wondering what was wrong. They looked at each other for a moment. Aleda raised her eyebrows. Ryan handed his leather jacket to her with a smirk. Now satisfied, she climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped her arms around his waist.

The drive was at least twenty minutes. She took the opportunity of a red stoplight to ask where they were going, and he told her it was another nest—one he had found in KentCounty. Aleda’s eyes widened. That was well out of his usual range. It was in the forest, this time, a feeder nest dug into underbrush and dead leaves. They left the motorcycle a quarter of a mile away in the woods, so that the noise wouldn’t give them away.

When they got off the bike, Ryan took both sets of training claws out of his bike’s compartment and fastened them securely to her hands, taking care to make sure that they fit as well as possible.

“Are they pinching anywhere?” he asked when he had finished.

Aleda moved her fingers. “No, they’re fine.” She started walking further into the forest.

“Wait.” He stopped her. “You should warm up before we go.”

She stared at him blankly.

“At least one flip,” he said.

She continued to stare at him, not saying a word. Finally she gave a sort of facial shrug and nodded. She slipped off his leather jacket and laid it across the motorcycle. Ryan bent down and cupped his hands near to the ground, just low enough that she could step into them with her right foot. They had done this before; she took only a moment to balance herself against his shoulders before he heaved her up into the air. He was very strong, and there was no worry about her not gaining enough height. The trickiest part, really, was not kicking him in the face as she turned in midair.

She flipped easily, the result of long practice, her legs tucking in even as her hair flew out behind her until she landed in a crouch on the sparse grass in front of him. Her leg flew out in a sweep out of sheer habit, and it was only by the same habit that he was able to jump out of the way. Her eyes widened when she realized what she had just done, but she saw the corners of his mouth quirk up. She grinned.

“I guess I have you to thank for that, sensei,” she quipped.

He tilted his head to the side. “I thought my sister was Sensei.”

Aleda shrugged, walking more determinedly into the forest. “I don’t see her here,” she said, looking back at him as she passed. Ryan blinked, then shook himself and hurried ahead of her.

“I’m going in first,” he told her. “Just to check things out.”

“Oh sure,” she retorted. “Just go in there and kill half the demons before I get a crack at them.”

He looked at her oddly for a moment before responding. “I’m going to make sure they’re there. Be silly to attack an empty nest.”

“Suit yourself.”

He snuck in first, of course. But he was quickly back at Aleda’s side, whether as a result of her joke or not. He leaned in close to her ear. “Six feeders,” he whispered almost silently. His warm breath tickled the side of her neck. “Bears, but they’re all asleep and none are shifted.”

She lifted her eyes to his. “But still strong, right?”

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Be careful.” He looked at his hand for a moment, where it had rested on her shoulder as he whispered in her ear. He moved it lower to catch her leather-covered hand and draw it up to eye level. “Stay in arm’s reach. If something happens, I’ll pull you out.”

Aleda looked at their hands, and at the razor-sharp claws at the tips of her fingers. Butterflies of excitement flew through her stomach at the thought of what she was about to do. A real hunt. No crossbows, no daggers, just her nearly-bare hands and that was all that would stand between her and her prey. She nodded, and he led her into the nest.

It was larger than she would have thought, especially for only six, but maybe that was because of their other, larger shapes. They were, indeed, asleep inside, laying on the ground like animals. Most of them were unclothed, and Aleda shot Ryan a surprised look. He shrugged. The look on his face seemed to say that naked bodies were something she’d just have to get used to.

She tried not to look too close.

She crept silently to the first one, then paused. Ryan chose one as well. He, too, had claws now, the close proximity to the demons making it almost impossible for him to keep them retracted. She raised hers over the thing’s chest and prepared herself to strike with all her strength. From what she remembered of Ryan’s stories, bear-shaped feeders were thicker-skinned than their lupine counterparts. Easier than trying this when it was shifted, of course. In that case she really would have to be a full hunter to kill it.

She took a deep breath.

She struck.

Three wooden claws pierced flesh. Two caught on its ribs and Aleda bit down hard on her lip to stifle the yelp of pain as fingers bent in awkward directions under the force of her blow. Of the three that made it through the ribs, one must have found the demon’s still heart. She remembered only just in time to hold her breath as the stench of the feeder rushed out and away. Ryan likewise skewered his chosen prey, although far more skillfully than she had.

They each moved on to another. He took his time to find a better angle, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She bent down more confidently now, the first kill having given her an unexpected rush even despite her sore fingers. Sure of her leverage, she struck too quickly. One of her claws snapped in half. Fingers already bruised by the first blow caught on solid bone with a sharp stabbing pain that curled her stomach. She cried out, unable to stop herself in time.

Its eyes snapped open.

Aleda stared at in horror. It began to growl, and within moments the other three feeders were awake. The one at Ryan’s feet caught him off guard, immediately launching itself at him and knocking him several feet away. He landed on his feet and snarled. Aleda didn’t see what happened after that. Her own opponent had already begun to grasp at her and aim blows at her head and stomach. It was all she could do to duck and spin away from her attacker. Gratitude for Ryan’s obsessive training in defense ran continuously through her head.

She ducked another clawed fist aimed for her throat and tried a kick that would shatter its knee and knock it to the ground. Her foot stuck. The demon had caught her leg just an inch from its own. A predatory sneer spread across its face. Aleda’s heart dropped to her stomach, and she realized that it was far too strong for her to pull away. She saw the last demon at the edge of her vision. It alone had found the time to shift to its true form, away in a corner of the nest while she and Ryan had been distracted. Now a massive damned bear was padding towards her. Dead eyes looked back at her.

She looked back at the demon who held her foot. It was shifting its grip to reach one arm out to her. It would tear out her throat, she was sure.

One last chance.

She swallowed her fear and threw her weight forward, into the creature. In the split second that she had before it recovered from the surprise of its prey jumping towards it, she braced her hands against its shoulders and launched herself up and out of its grasp. It was clumsy, but it was successful. She landed on her feet and immediately swept her leg around to knock it to the ground. This time, it worked. She used her left hand, awkward but unhurt, to plunge her wooden claws into the thing’s dead heart. All five sunk into its chest.

She only had a moment to relish the elation. Something sharp dug into her sweater and flung her forcefully across the nest. She gasped and looked up to see the last demon galloping towards her, sharp teeth bared and dripping with saliva. It was on her within a second, not even giving her the chance to regain her footing. She rolled to the side just as its massive paw came down where her head had been. Sharp demon’s claws dug into the earth and caught at her sweater.

She tried to bring her legs up above her stomach, to hold it away with her arms, to do anything to protect herself. She caught it by the throat when it snapped at her. It was just barely enough to hold it at bay. Her arm shook with the effort of holding it off. It was just barely enough. Sharp teeth snapped in her face and hot, foul breath roared in her ears.

Then it was gone, and she saw Ryan standing above her. His hands ripped into the creature’s sides and lifted it away. For several unending seconds they grappled. Long, bloody wounds appeared and vanished on both of them as they fought, and Aleda stared. His eyes were blazing. She hadn’t seen them so bright since the night of the mugger. He roared in fury, throwing more strength into killing the demon than Aleda had even guessed he possessed. It didn’t take long. Unable to reach the creature’s heart while it stood on four legs, he gripped the head itself and wrenched it violently from its neck. The demon seemed to explode in his hands, and the stench rushed out in a shockwave.

In a moment it was done. His claws disappeared and he dropped to the ground beside her, frantically looking her over for any injury. He pulled her up a bit so that he could check her back as well. “Are you hurt?”

Aleda shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Just my sweater… well, Talia’s sweater,” she corrected herself. She propped herself up on her elbows. She checked, just to make sure. “I don’t think it even scratched me.”

Ryan frowned. “Your lip is bleeding,” he said softly, and raised his fingers towards her mouth. Aleda pressed her tongue to her lower lip and tasted blood. She must have bitten clean through it the first time she’d tried to attack the sleeping demon. Before she could so much as protest he bit through his thumb and moved it a few inches to brush across her lip with a familiar sweep of electricity. Aleda’s breath caught in her throat. Her eyes flicked to his mouth, now stained with blood, then up to his eyes. There was so much light behind his eyes. So much warmth in the fingers that pressed against her back, holding her up.

He looked away and the spell was broken. Aleda swallowed heavily. He stood and offered her his hand to lift her to her feet. Once again she was very aware of just how strong he really was. For just a moment she felt weightless. Then she was on her feet, and they were walking in silence back to his motorcycle. He removed her claws and tucked them into the compartment on his bike. He held out the leather jacket for her to wear, and she pulled on her helmet. He gunned the motorcycle to life and took off towards the road. She buried her head into his back against the cold wind. Breathed in his scent. Warmth and sweat and musky spice.

The drive back to Delaware seemed to take forever. He didn’t stop at his apartment, just continued until she could see her house. He slowed to a stop when they were still a block away.

“I didn’t want your parents hearing my bike,” he explained. Aleda nodded. She had been thinking the same thing. She got off the motorcycle and pulled off her helmet. Handed it back to him.

She started walking towards her house, then stopped and turned back to him. “Thank you,” she said softly, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

 

 

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He watched her walk the rest of the way back to her house. He waited until she disappeared through the front door to start his engine and pull away, off towards Elkton.

He didn’t even mind that she’d kept his jacket.