Chapter 44

Ryan was having some trouble.

Riding the motorcycle helped; all of the wind that rushed past his face took with it any chance that the air would recirculate, like it would have in Talia’s car. But it didn’t help enough.

It was too close. There was no way to escape something that close.

He had lent his jacket to Aleda a few times before, while she rode behind him on his motorcycle. For a few hours, at most, and then it was his again. Even then, it had been a day before he could wear that jacket without smelling her all around him.

This time, she had been wearing it for a week.

He was having some trouble. It was all he could do not to think of the chance that she would have just woken, and would still be wearing nothing but her pajamas.

He concentrated on the cold air hitting his face.

 

 

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Fortune favored him that day. Aleda was awake, dressed, and eating a bowl of oatmeal when Aria opened the door. She looked up and smiled when he walked in.

“Long time, no see,” she commented.

Ryan had to bite back a smirk. It couldn’t have been more than ten hours since he had last seen her, lying asleep under a blanket still wearing her sweater and skirt.

So she wouldn’t have been wearing pajamas, anyway. Good to know.

He pulled off his leather jacket and laid it across the back of the couch. Better here than downstairs with him. When Aleda showed no signs of finishing her oatmeal, he pulled out a chair and slid in next to her. She, however, kept her attention fixed on her oatmeal, not deigning to notice that he had joined her.

“Good oatmeal?” he asked conversationally.

She nodded, her attention still on her bowl.

“You’ve got a large bowl of it, I see,” he observed.

Another nod, although he thought he caught the trace of a smile quirking at her lips.

“I guess it must take quite some time to eat that much,” he continued.

Finally, a full grin. She looked up at him with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

“Might take me hours to eat all this,” she said. “It’s very filling, you know. I guess you’re just going to have to wait.”

“Are you sure you don’t want some help with that?” he asked. “It’s an awful lot for a little girl like you.”

Her eyes narrowed in momentary uncertainty. That was the first time he’d called her ‘little girl’ without even the slightest hint of annoyance. She responded with a slow smirk. “So you don’t think I can eat all this, huh?”

“I don’t know, it’s a lot of oatmeal.”

“Well I can.”

“I don’t believe you. Prove it.”

“I will!”

“So let’s see it!”

Aleda made a face at him and dug into her oatmeal with determination.  Within minutes it had disappeared and she tipped her empty bowl towards him with a triumphant smile.

“See?” she said. “Not a problem. Even for a ‘little girl’ like me.”

“Well, I have to say, I’m impressed,” Ryan admitted jokingly. “There’s two birds with one stone.”

Aleda frowned at him. “What’s that?”

“Oh, nothing,” he said, and shook his head. He picked up the empty bowl and carried it into the kitchen. While there, he pulled the milk out of the fridge and poured himself his usual glass.

“So where’s Talia today?” she asked as they marched down the stairs to the basement.

“Oh, you know. Off with her pizza boy.”

“Trevor?”

“Actually, no,” he said. “There’s a new delivery boy now. Sam, I think his name is.”

“Poor Trevor.” She shook her head sadly.

Ryan smirked. “He’ll live. You ready to train?”

“Oh, of course!” she answered dramatically. “And what do you have planned for me today, oh wise sensei?”

Ryan laughed. “Must you call me that?” he asked. “I don’t look Japanese, do I?”

“Well, you don’t look Irish, either,” Aleda pointed out.

“Now tha’ I’ll be havin’ t’ take offense to,” he said, dropping into an exaggerated lilt. “I’m as Irish as potatoes an’ the Tuatha Dé Danann, lass!”

Aleda giggled. “And what on earth is that?”

“Ask me again, sometime,” he told her. “I’ll tell you the story. For now, why don’t you put these on?”

He handed her the training claws—the dulled version—and stripped down to his undershirt so that he could change into the cheap hoodie he had bought the week before.  Aleda concentrated on getting the one set of claws onto her hand and dutifully pretended not to notice.

“You know, you still haven’t told me what we’re doing today,” she reminded him. “More of the same?”

 He walked back over to her and helped her with the second set of claws. “What can I say? You keep learning things too quick. Now you’ve just got to practice.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know how that goes. Sounds like what Mom tells me about the violin.” She shook her hands for a moment to help settle the claws into place.

“Well, she’s right. Practice makes perfect, and all that.”

“Even though I’m not even going to be able to fight for real until I’m actually called?”

Ryan paused mid-shrug. He hesitated for a moment, then said: “Actually, I have an idea…”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“They say there’s something about hunterborn with hunter mothers,” he said thoughtfully. “About how they react to the family’s blood.” He rolled up his sleeves and moved towards her until he was only a few inches away.

“What are you doing?”

“Do you trust me?” he whispered.

Aleda nodded. In one fluid motion he tore his claws down both of his forearms, opening deep gashes all the way to his hands, and pressed those hands against her bare neck. He pulled her close, his eyes closing in concentration. Aleda gasped as it hit her. Molten fire flooded her veins. A brief downward glance revealed two bloody lines on his arms, flowing up and into her skin against all logic. She could almost understand the words he whispered.

With the fire, light poured into her—or maybe out. It was so hard to tell. It was as if someone had opened a wall full of windows and suddenly even the dim basement was bright. Ryan pulled his hands away with a sharp breath. The gashes closed immediately. Very quickly, he gulped down the entire glass of milk.

“Fight me.”

“What?”

“Quickly, before it wears off!”

She was confused. But there was no denying the exhilaration and strength that now flooded her body. She leapt at him. He caught her easily, but she spun out of his grasp.

“What did you do to me?” she gasped as she whirled around again.

Ryan charged. “Just a little pick-me-up,” he answered with a grin. She leapt into the air to avoid him, catching herself effortlessly against the ceiling to attack him from above. He threw himself to the side, and she landed on her hands, fingers splayed out to absorb the weight and spare the claws. A landing that would have broken both her arms now allowed her to push off again in a frontward handspring.

“A ‘pick-me-up’? That’s a damned understatement!” she exclaimed in mid-air, her legs tucking into her stomach from long habit. She uncurled just as she reached him, ready to attack once again.

Ryan was ready for her. He caught her by shoulder and waist and spun her around, exposing her neck. That’s the first thing a demon would go for if it caught her. He bent swiftly and brought her neck close to his lips. Her scent slammed into his senses again and he hesitated just a moment too long. She spun in his grip the way he’d taught her and brought her own hand forcefully against his chest. The fire was slowly draining out of her but she could still clearly see him before her, as plain as day and a hundred times brighter.

 His chest heaved from the exertion. “I think I gave you too much,” he said breathlessly.

 “Why’s that?” she inquired innocently. She eased her claws into a less menacing angle. “Because I beat you in a fair fight?”

His hand tightened almost imperceptibly at her waist. “It’s hardly fair if I’m falling over from blood loss,” he countered.

“It felt like I was flying,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he agreed in a murmur. “It does.” The hand on her shoulder moved down her arm to rest at her elbow, and pulled her ever so slightly closer to him. He leaned down a little more. “You fly very well.”

“I can still feel it,” she breathed, her eyes fixed on what she could see behind the jade in his. “What did you do to me?”

“A little bit of life,” he said softly. “A little bit of fire.”

“Is this what it’s like?” she wondered. “Is this how it is for you all the time?”

He ducked his head in affirmation. “Even better.”

“Even now? With all the blood you lost?”

“Especially now.”

She stared up at him, speechless. With her new-found vision, she could not help but see the fire blazing deep within his eyes. It transfixed her, for she had never seen anything like it. No human had eyes like that. She could see straight through them; the paltry distance between them meant nothing. Without thinking she brought her fingers up to brush gingerly against the ridge of his cheek. Trying to fathom what she saw. His eyes closed momentarily at the contact.

She drew in a ragged breath. Something about the way he looked at her made her suddenly unable to get enough air to her lungs. Her mouth had gone completely dry. She swallowed and tore her eyes away from him.

“I- I guess we’d better try that again,” she said. “Before all the juice is gone.”

“Yeah… okay.” Merciful heaven her scent was all around him now. He could have agreed to anything. He realized that she was pulling away and released her awkwardly. He hadn’t even realized that he had maintained his hold the entire time.

He cleared his throat. “Right. Well. Again from the top? That’s what you musicians say, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said. “From the top.”

They squared off.

This time was a bit harder. She wasn’t quite as strong, or as fast, or as agile as she had been five minutes ago. Ryan bested her easily.

“You’re lucky I don’t have any intention of actually ripping your throat out,” he said. “You’d be in some trouble.”

“Oh, please,” she shot back. “I can hold my own against you.”

He smirked and circled. “I don’t know,” he said. “You keep landing on the ground like that.”

“Yes, on the cold concrete thank you very much.”

He feinted and attacked from the right, which she easily avoided. “Exactly. I keep winning these things. I think you’re in trouble.”

“You’re in trouble,” she said, and raked him across the chest with her claws. Unfortunately, he had spent enough time sanding them down that they didn’t even tear the fabric of his hoodie.

“Ooh, so close!” he teased her. She grinned and went after him again.

 

 

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Eventually they had to stop out of sheer exhaustion. Ryan flung himself dramatically onto the floor, and Aleda collapsed next to him.

“Enough?”

“Enough.”

“Truce?”

“No truce,” he said. “No fun.”

“Have it your way.”

“You sound like a commercial,” he said. “Now I want a cheeseburger.”

“So go eat a cheeseburger.”

He stared up at the ceiling. “Come with me.”

Aleda blinked and turned her head against the hard floor to look at him. “Okay.”

He rolled himself up and off of the floor first and held out his hands to pull her up with him.

“Is West’s good for you?”

Aleda scoffed. “Not if you’re planning on driving that motorcycle there. You try that, I’ll steal all your clothes, not just the leather jacket.”

Ryan stared at her for a moment. He shook himself. Moving on.

“Fast food it is, then,” he acquiesced.

Aleda held out her hands again and he pulled gently at the straps that held together the training claws. “You know, whoever designed these really should have put more work into making these things easier to take off,” she observed.

Ryan raised an eyebrow and glanced up from her hands. “Maybe he was more worried about making sure they stayed on,” he said.

“Well, it’s a weird design. Pretty clever, though, I guess.”

“I’m glad you approve,” he replied dryly. “I had to cannibalize four different belts to make these things.”

“Wait! You…?”

“Sure did. Made them for Talia when she was a teenager—not just acting like one.”

“Oh. Er, good job!”

He rolled his eyes and smirked. “Thanks.” He finished shucking the leather from her hands and wrapped up the claws with their straps. They walked up the stairs. “So where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere but here?” Aleda suggested. “Seriously, though, I have got to get out of this house. Papá’s been driving me nuts lately.”

“Baby-crazy?”

“Overprotective as hell crazy. He’s been watching me like a hawk ever since that incident in January.” She wrinkled her nose at the coats in the hall closet and pulled one out. “It’s driving me insane.”

Ryan found his leather jacket hanging in the closet as well. Aria must have hung it up.

“Mom!” Aleda called out. “Mom, I’m going out! Mom?” She stood at the base of the stairs leading up to the second floor and tried again. “Mom?”

Instead of Mom, Papá emerged from the spare bedroom.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Lunch.”

“With Ryan?”

“Yes,” she answered sullenly. “Lunch with Ryan. Is that suddenly not allowed now, too?”

Papá frowned. “Do not take that tone with me, Aleda. I remember who it was that took you hunting in the first place.”

Ryan stepped forward. “Can’t hunt in the daytime, Alejandro. You know that.”

Papá glared at them. “You encourage her too much,” he said. “She is not yet called—she has no business to be hunting.”

“Our dear cousin Mike would be so proud,” Ryan retorted scathingly. “And here I would have expected better from the grandson of Seth Carlisle.”

“You know? It is a good thing that we spent so much time fighting side-by-side,” Papá said. “Or I would throw you out of my house right now.”

“Either way, she’s coming with me.”

“Fine. You go. But I swear to merciful heaven that if you let anything so much as lay a finger on her you will never be welcome in this house again!”

Aleda had to swallow the noise of outrage that tried to tear out of her throat. The two men glared at each other for a moment before Ryan turned away and guided Aleda to the door.

“No wonder you want to get out of there!” he commented when they were well away. “Are you sorry you came out with us?”

Aleda snorted. “Not a chance. Those were some of the best damned nights of my life,” she told him. “Though now I’m lucky I can go out after sunset at all. Did you know that’s what he wanted to do originally? Mom had to talk him down.”

Ryan raised his eyebrows and handed her the passenger helmet before gunning his engine.

“I don’t get it, you know?” she continued over the roar of the engine. “I mean, he’s always been a little overprotective, but lately he’s just lost it!”

“He did find out his only daughter has been out at night and lying about where she was,” Ryan shouted back to her. “I know Da had more than a few rows with Talia over just that sort of thing. Granted, she was out at parties instead of hunting.”

“You mean all parents are this mental?”

“’Fraid so.”

Aleda shook her head and stopped trying to talk until they were someplace quieter. The nearest fast food restaurant was two miles down the road, and that’s where they went. Ryan pulled into the lot and found an empty space.

“For a minute there I thought you were going to pull into the drive-thru,” Aleda said. She glanced up at him with a slight smirk.

“Don’t be silly,” he chided her. “The milkshakes would get everywhere.” Aleda laughed, and he grinned before opening the door for her.

Fortunately, there wasn’t much of a line at the counter. Ryan ordered himself a triple cheeseburger with bacon, enormous fries, and a milkshake. Aleda stared at him out of the corner of her eye. He turned to her. “What do you want?” he asked.

“About a third of that?” she tried, flabberghasted.

“And a number four for her,” he told the boy working at the register.

“Here,” Aleda said, fishing through her purse, “I think that was five th-…” Ryan’s hand on her wrist made her pause.

“What did I say about being silly?” he asked. Aleda stared at him. “Don’t,” he answered for her, helpfully. “I’ve got it.”

“Yeah, but you…”

“But I’ve got a job…unlike you, lass.” He handed her the paper cup that had come with her meal. “You’d best be getting yourself something to drink.”

Aleda stared at the cup. Then she stared at Ryan. Then at the soda fountain. Finally she remembered what she was supposed to be doing with it and went to the fountain for her drink. Meanwhile, one of the workers gave Ryan a tray with their food on it. He gestured with his head and she followed him to an empty table.

Not many people in there at that time of day. He pulled out his cheeseburger and fries with enthusiasm and dug right in. Aleda could only bring herself to watch in amazement.

“Are you hungry or something?” she had to ask. Ryan swallowed his mouthful and chuckled a bit.

“You could say that,” he laughed. “I did loose a lot of blood recently.”

“Which can’t be pleasant,” Aleda conceded a little guiltily. “But hungry?”

“Blood’s got to be replaced. I doubt there’s anything at all left in my digestive system.”

“Which would explain the…” she waved her hand at the pile of food in front of him.

“Nothing like fast food for replacing calories.”

“And the insane amounts of cholesterol?”

He answered by way of a cheeky grin. “I don’t have cholesterol, lass. You should know that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Figures. You don’t have anything, do you?”

“Measles, mumps, common cold, influenza, cancer, heart attacks, athlete’s foot. You name it, I’m good. We don’t even get allergies.”

“Yeah, I figured. I’m just still trying to figure out how it all works,” Aleda admitted, feeling a little embarrassed.

“You want to know how it works?” Ryan asked. “You find out, you let me know. The best I can figure is that we’ve got something inside keeping us clean. Like… scrubbing bubbles.” He downed half of his milkshake.

“You mean you don’t know?”

“It never really bothered me.” He shrugged. “All I know is, it works. Are you going to eat the rest of those fries?”

Aleda rolled her eyes and pushed her little half-eaten carton of french fries over to his side of the cramped table. He polished them off almost as an afterthought before downing the rest of his milkshake.

“You know,” he said, “I don’t know why they call these ‘milkshakes’. There’s hardly any milk in them. And don’t even get me started on the cheeseburgers. At least West’s have actual meat in them, even if it’s not beef. I doubt you could say the same for whatever this is!”

Aleda listened to his rant in amusement. “So why did you want a cheeseburger?” she inquired with a lopsided grin.

He made a noise. “Wishful thinking.”

“You know, you’re slipping,” Aleda commented after a brief silence.

“Why’s that?”

“That’s the first snide comment I’ve heard from you all day,” she pointed out. “I would have expected at least five more by now.”

Ryan considered that.

“I guess it’s been a good day.”

 

 

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All too soon they had finished their cheeseburgers, with Ryan enthusiastically helping Aleda finish everything she couldn’t eat. When he was done Ryan finally declared himself full, much to Aleda’s relief. They dumped their trash, put the tray in its stack, and lingered in the doorway where it was warm.

“Well, I should probably get back home,” Aleda said. Ryan nodded reluctantly.

“Your da will be wanting to know you’re still in one piece,” he agreed. He smirked. “I don’t think he’s very happy with me.”

“Yeah… Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, lass,” he said gently. “It’s my doing, after all. Besides, he needs a good talking-to whenever he gets in one of his rule-abiding moods. It breaks my heart, to see the grandson of Seth Carlisle act all rule-bound and prissy.”

“What do you mean? Is Great-Grandpa Seth crazy or something?”

Ryan gaped at her. “You mean you’ve never heard the stories?” he asked incredulously. Aleda shook her head. “Oh, jaysis, he would get up to so many stunts, old Mike Connor had to have a ‘talk’ with him.” He snorted. “Not that it did any good.”

Encouraged by Aleda’s rapt expression, he continued. “Da told me about this one time, for instance, that he and Seth were visiting a little town in Scotland. As they’re coming up to it, Seth sees the town’s well and walks over. Stands next to it for the longest time, too, just looking down into it. So Da walks over to see what he was doing, and he sees Seth holding his arm down into it, blood running down like you wouldn’t believe. ‘Seth, get your damn arm out of the well!’ he says. The crazy git was going to heal up the whole bloody town in one fell swoop! Seth says ‘Why? There’s nobody around to see me’ and Da says ‘Maybe not, but nobody’s going to be drinking pink well-water, either!’ and had to pick him up and drag him away from the thing!”

Aleda grinned broadly at the thought of her great-grandfather with his arm down a well. “Sounds like he’s had some fun.”

“Oh, aye. He doesn’t care one bit about all those lovely conventions that people like Mike Connor cling so tight to. You show him a sick man, you can be sure he’ll be slipping them a few drops before five minutes have passed,” Ryan told her

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Of course it is… but some people are smart enough to know that sometimes that doesn’t matter. Some people know there’s more important things in this world.”

“And you agree with him.” It was a statement, not a question.

“You’re great-grandda is a wise man,” Ryan said. “I’ll tell you now he’s one of the few I regret leaving behind.”

Aleda chewed on her lower lip, frowning at him. “Why did you?” she asked. “Leave, I mean.”

Ryan shook his head and turned to the outer door. “It’s a long story,” he said. He pushed the door open and walked out, holding it open until she followed. Aleda studied him thoughtfully but did not press the issue. He handed over her helmet without a word, and they drove back to her house. It had barely been more than an hour.

They pulled into her driveway and Aleda’s heart sank into her stomach. There was an extra car in the driveway.

Nate’s car.

He must have heard the roar of the motorcycle’s engine. No sooner had Aleda swung her leg over and onto the ground, than the front door opened and Nate walked out onto the porch.

“Leda!” he called. “There you are!” He jogged over to her and put a hand on her shoulder with a glare at Ryan. “What’s going on, Leda? Things were going so good, and then you just flipped out! I thought we were good together, Leda.” The pain and confusion in his voice was obvious, and Aleda looked at the ground.

“What happened?” he asked again, forlornly.

She hugged her arms around herself and shrugged. “I got freaked out,” she admitted. “All of a sudden you were talking about getting married and I… I guess I freaked. I mean, it’s only been five months! I can’t think about that yet!”

“We don’t have to talk about that. Would that be better? If I didn’t even mention it?” Nate offered. “I’ve never been this serious about a girl, Leda. I thought we were just doing what people do when they’re serious.”

“They do! They just… usually wait a little longer first,” Aleda said.

“But then you run off with this guy.” Nate gestured at Ryan, who was still sitting on his motorcycle, although he had removed his helmet. “And suddently I don’t know where we are anymore!

“He’s just a friend,” Aleda said. “Of my parents,” she added.

“So why is he here now?” Nate demanded.

“I told you he’s training me! We had lunch afterwards, that’s all.”

“I don’t trust him,” he grumbled.

“I do,” Aleda said. “He’s not that bad, if the two of you would just stop fighting.”

“That’s what I’m worried about! You spend all this time telling me what a jerk he is, and all of a sudden you’re grabbing lunch together after a four-hour training session downstairs all by yourselves? I’ll be damned if ‘friends’ is all he’s interested in!”

Something unidentifiable rushed through her stomach at Nate’s words. She risked a glance at Ryan, who she realized guiltily had to listen to everything that was said. His eyes were fixed on the concrete of the driveway. She looked back at Nate. Her lips parted.

She could think of nothing to say.

Nate’s face twisted into a boyish pout. He had not missed Aleda’s hesitation.

“Are you still in this, Leda?” he demanded.

“Of course I am!” she protested. “I’m still your girlfriend! …Aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you are,” he said. “But what about this guy?”

She couldn’t glance over. She couldn’t look at him. It could ruin everything.

What had she been thinking?

She swallowed and kept her eyes on Nate. “What about him?”

“I don’t want you spending time with him!”

“Nate!”

“Well, I don’t!”

“Nate, he’s my trainer! I see him every week!”

“What happened to that girl?” Nate asked. “His sister, or whatever. Where the hell is she?”

“Talia didn’t come today. She had plans.”

“Well, I don’t like the idea of the two of you getting all cozy in the basement together,” he said. He turned his attention to the hard-faced Ryan still straddling his motorcycle. “I don’t trust you. Stay away from my girlfriend, you hear me?”

Ryan sneered at him.

Nate had already turned back to Aleda. “Since I’m here, do you want to go grab lunch or something with me?”

“I already had lunch,” Aleda reminded him.

“Okay, not lunch. Let’s just go somewhere. We could probably catch a matinee of something. What do you think?”

“Y-yeah. Sure,” she stammered. “I just… I have to go ask my parents.”

Nate nodded and took her by the hand. Led her away from the driveway and up into the house.

 

 

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That boy had come back. Ryan had thought he was well rid of him. Good riddance. But there he was, standing in the driveway, mumbling non-apologies and claiming Aleda as his own. He had stood there talking as if Ryan had not even been there. He expected no less from the spoiled child. He could only sit there, his feet glued to the ground on either side of his motorcycle, as that spoiled boy spouted his nonsense.

And yet…

In a way, he was right. Aleda was his. Ryan was the interloper. He had no right to do what he had started to do.

He’d been an idiot.

And what had happened next should not have surprised him in the least. The little girl went straight back to the little boy and acted like nothing had ever happened. Once again he had let himself care about somebody, and it had backfired completely. Not only that, he had let himself care about somebody who he had no right to feel anything for. Even if it was by that damned boy, her heart was already taken and he had no right to it.

He sat there on his motorcycle, growing colder and colder inside and the two talked. He was a bloody inexcusable idiot. He had known what would happen, and he did it anyway, and this was what happened. It served him bloody well right.

So that boy didn’t want him around his pretty girl? Fine. He’d just have to make himself scarce. He couldn’t allow himself to care about her. So he would try his best to hate her.

He knew even as he thought it, though, that it wouldn’t work. The moment he looked into her eyes he’d be lost once again. He watched the two of them walk hand-in-hand back to the house. He couldn’t stay there. He didn’t belong there. So he did what he always did.

He left.