Diary 5:  Random Encounter

The group had been angry and frustrated at Greyson’s revelations, as was I. I watched Shen amused. Whenever he got in a situation he didn’t quite understand, his tail whipped back and forth. Fletcher stood, eyes slightly narrowed and his right hand rested lightly on one of his pistols. Griffin, was a little apart from the others in the group. He looked odd in his renaissance outfit clothing. Cecily didn’t look at Greyson at all. She was too busy shooting eye daggers at her brother Harrison. He stood and fidgeted with something on the counter, and didn’t meet her gaze. I’m not sure what their private war was about, but it only added to the tension in the room. Greyson thought we were all related; I couldn’t see the relationship at all. Pyrite sensed my uneasiness and silently walked out, the dog’s cold wet nose startled me out of my reverie. I knelt and scratched him behind the ears, my hand flowing over his silky brindle colored coat, but my eyes remained on Greyson throughout his recitation.

I didn’t think he was lying about his memory problems. It was evident that he wanted us to believe him, we watched him go through the portrait cards and tell us the names of those found on the cards. One he stared at one of the cards for too long, and his face went blank. It was disquieting to watch.

After his tarot reading, he went outside to smoke. Griffin and Shen followed, but Griffin s stared at us with a smile on his lips. Shen followed and let the screen door bang close behind him. We talked about a little of who he was. He told me that he had a feeling he’d been bad in his previous life and that he thought he’d lived a long time. I mentally filed this away with all the other odd revelations. I told him that what mattered was what he did now as he lived in the present. He smiled and suggested that maybe he hadn’t been all that good recently. Then he smiled and asked huskily, if I’d kiss an old bad man, who might not quite remember how to kiss.

It was nice to see him smile and I think the first time that I had seen such a smile on his face. I decided I liked the look of that smile there and reached up and pulled his head down to mind. He hesitated for a moment, and then allowed me to pull him closer. We kissed and I felt his warm, strong arms encircle me and I felt sheltered. The cough of Griffin as he approached the house, caused us to pull apart and we went inside to join the others. Planning sessions were made in short order, tomorrow at daybreak we would ride horseback to Greyson’s brother Benedict. Greyson had invited us to all come along, but when I questioned whether he wanted us to come he looked at me and said yes. Greyson thought that perhaps it was time to move on and try to get some of his questions answered. I was surprised by the group’s assent to follow. The demon hunting exercise seemed to have been put aside. I mentioned this, and the group decided to bring the curative book along. They had thought that I didn’t have much to offer in Hakthala’s hunt. I had been holding my own, when I had faced the demon down in the bathroom. Fear is a luxury that I do not have. Animals know when you are afraid, and they like they should will take advantage of that. If I could handle hanging onto a rope with one hand and my legs, while being lowered into a pit full of vipers to be the first to videorecord a mating ball of the very rare and very poisonous scarlet viper, then a demon was just not going to phase me.

We went up to his room. We left together as soon as that part of the conversation was finished and went to his room. This time he initiated the kiss, and we grasped each other and moved towards the bed. I slid my hands up underneath the back of his shirt. His warm back and hard muscles feeling incredible under the shirt. My fingers felt scars, something long had marked him across the left shoulder and I felt what I thought was a roundish scar, from a bullet perhaps? I stopped to question him, but he silenced me with a kiss. The first time was fierce, he took me with an urgent passion. The second time, was much later in the night. I awoke cuddled up next to him. My back to his stomach. He was propped up one elbow looking at me. While he stroked my right hip with his other hand. "You are so beautiful, " I heard him murmur. I turned onto my back and looked up into his greyish blue eyes. His hand stroked down my thigh as he continued, "I was worried about you when you were trapped in the bathroom."

"I was fine, " I whispered back to him and then slowly proceeded to prove just that.