Paragon - Chapter 37: Chapter 37

"Petrichor is the smell of rain. The word comes from the Greek words 'petra', meaning stone, and 'ichor', which in Greek mythology refers to the golden fluid that flows in the veins of the immortals."
I drove us back now.
I wanted nothing left to chance. No way for that crazed immortal to hunt the car. The rain hit the windshield heavily. Quinn's heart raced for reasons other than the fact that we moved faster than I had ever dared.
"Who. Fletcher. Who the hell–is–was that?" Quinn breathed, staring at the side of my face.
I kept my eyes focused on the road. Focused on putting as much distance between that restaurant and us as possible.
"An immortal." I murmured, dodging more cars and receiving horns.
"From where?"
"Mumbai." I answered hollow. "I worked with him for the organisation of immortals that called me in.
"Paragon." She answered, staring me down. It made my hands tighten and my body grow tense just hearing it from mortal lips. I should have expected Quinn to piece William's words together quickly enough–yet it still froze my being.
"Yes. We completed our work but he was curious." I growled the last part. "When we parted ways I seemed too distracted–too uninterested in him–apparently that is abnormal for immortals."
Quinn let the breath go through her teeth. "What now?"
"I take you somewhere secure. Somewhere with the old ways and no tech. Then I hunt that creature down myself." I finished with no emotion at all.
I felt the warmth of her hand on my leg and realised just how tense my hands and shoulders were. I flickered my gaze to her briefly but she watched the rain stream down the glass instead. I let a slow breath go before I slipped my free hand down on top of hers. How fingers tied together on my leg as I stirred us deeper into the Japanese countryside.
"Give me your phone." I murmured.
She passed it to me without taking her eyes off the window. As soon as the glass touched my palm I opened the window and tossed it out into the rain. Quinn smirked towards the glass.
"How on earth do you find this funny?" I demanded in shock.
She shook her head fighting the smile now. Then rolled her head against the seat and met my eyes. "Really you're right. I should be hating the fact that I keep so little of my personal possessions in your life–but I don't. In the strangest way... it's liberating." She mused.
"Quinn. You're insane." I deadpanned, dodging another car and taking a turn that started our incline to the mountainous forests.
She shrugged in the seat and crossed her arms, focusing on me more intently.
"Who the hell wants to be normal?" She uttered.
I shot her a look and caught a strand of her hair–still damp from the rain–and tucked it behind her ear. Her heart stuttered a moment when I turned back to the road.
"You're telling me there's not one thing you regret about this, Quinn?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you, detective." She answered not missing a beat.
I sighed through my nose and cast my eyes up at the trees in the hills. The altitude and terrain would make tracking on foot and vehicle harder. There were no phones that could now be traced... My car was another matter but I would not keep it here long. I would find that secluded and removed village in the high mountains and leave her with the purest mortals that had once helped me find my own peace in this world.
Then I would find the heathen and make him regret every smirk, every thought in her direction–
"You should let me help you."
"Not a chance."
"If we played this smart it would be–"
"There is no holy water, no silver bullet that would stop him." I cut in lethally calm. It made her pulse sing all the louder in the confined space and I calmed my inner demon loving the way it beat. "–I tear his head from his shoulders. That is it. Immortals are too fast to plan any other way of doing it." I sighed, thinking of the last time...
When I had crossed the wrong side of one other immortal. It was a long fight... One I had almost not walked away from at all.
"You know I won't be able to think of anything–but wonder if you're still alive." She pressed, suddenly serious and growing angry. "While I'm out here–god knows where–"
I slammed the brakes and pulled out to the muddy side of the road near the tree line. I turned to her and pushed a hand through her hair making her eyes focus on me.
"Do you want a life with me?"
Her anger dropped and her expression went blank.
"What do you–what?"
"It's a simple question, Quinn. Do you want a future with me?" I asked slowly.
"Yes!" She answered loudly between us, with a frown in those burning green irises. "How are you still asking that after everything?"
"Because I need to make it clear to you that everything I do now is to ensure that we get one. That we get a tomorrow and however long after that." I moved my palm to her jaw and secured it. "I need the fearless lawyer to accept that this is not her fight. It is an immortal's."
My words seemed to stop the words she was going to counter with.
She pushed off her seat without caring where her knees clambered over on the leather or panel. I couldn't have cared less either. She climbed onto my side and pushed both of her hands through my hair as the rain hammered the car around us. Nothing mattered outside of this world between us. The heat, the scent, the look in her eyes, the promise in her words–
"I want tomorrow and the time after it. I want you now and in whatever future waits. But don't think I'll ever expect it by doing nothing. It's just not in my nature, detective. I'm with you on this just as I was when I jumped on that plane." She told me, watching every part of my face that was mere inches away.
My own eyes darted between hers.
"Why did I expect you to just listen to me on this?" I growled.
She smiled slowly before leaning down and pressing her lips to mine. The sweet scent of her cloaked me in desire. In a heavy need that wanted every inch of her. I pulled my hands down her sides and left them on her hips angling my mouth back so I could try and clear my head.
She gave me a second to breathe.
"Don't fight me. You'll never win." She whispered against my lips.
I groaned despite it all and she grinned widely. She shifted her legs on top of me again and I was painfully aware of how good that heat felt pressed in the confines of the car.
"What did you have in mind?" I asked, wary of the dark look in her eyes as she traced over me.
"He'll track the car." She summarised, staying dangerously close to my lips. "We just need to make sure he finds exactly what he wants when he gets close."
"I forgot how devious you are for a mortal." I muttered, trying and failing to clear my head again as she pressed teasingly against me. I caught her waist with a glare making her body stop. "You don't put yourself anywhere near him." I stated.
"My part only needs to be brief." She said innocently, tracing my lower lip with her thumb before meeting my eyes. It was as if she got distracted without permission. I smirked when the blood rushed her cheeks.
"Try to stay focused."
"Must I always be the good guy?" She drawled.
Thunder rumbled in the distance as the rainfall beat a steady rhythm around us. In many ways the perfect storm. Just how her heart and heat felt right now in the small space.
"Quinn, I'm not using you as bait." I stated, keeping the focus on the danger at hand. She sighed and tilted her head, making her hair fall down one side.
"Fletcher, the more distracted he is the less of a threat he becomes."
"Having him in the same country as you is still too much of a threat." I growled.
She placed her hands against my shoulders and set some space between us. We breathed each other in a moment. Just watching the space between us. I finally nodded.
"Do you think spilling blood is too far?"
I glared her down.
"It doesn't have to be mine... Anything to cloud his senses right?" She asked intently.
I paused and considered it. "That is actually not a bad idea... A local drunk would–"
"Not human!" She hissed, slapping my arm. "An animal."
"Animal blood would hardly make him pause."
"But my blood would?" She ventured.
I stilled again with a hard look. "Absolutely not, Quinn."
"I've seen how you get Fletcher... If it was the real thing you would have no trouble ending–"
"And what about when I smell that distracting blood, Quinn?" I demanded.
"I'd bring you back." She murmured, touching her fingers to my jaw. I clenched it and shut my eyes briefly.
"Not worth the risk. Let me do this alone."
Those warm fingers traced down my neck. "It seems like we're at an impasse."
I opened my eyes and met those green. "You know I would never forgive myself. Not in a century. Not in two. If I hurt you."
"Then let's bury this asshole so we don't have to think about it." She said without an inch of hesitation in her words or eyes.
"Agreed. But you don't spill any blood for this, Quinn."
She didn't meet my eyes as she looked over my shoulder at the rain outside. "Then we find another distraction–but if I see that immortal with any advantage over you... No promises, detective." She finished, catching my eyes again and making my heart freeze over.
* * * * *
We emerged from the old dirt road out of the trees dripping around us.
The car was hidden away, back through the forested hills. The rain was still a constant thing and made the mud slip under Quinn's sandals. I caught her elbow for the fourth time in the last five minutes and rolled my eyes at her cursing before sweeping an arm under her.
"Fletcher!" She protested, as I easily carried her body close to my chest with a slow smile.
"Adams, I don't have all year. Nor do I think you'd like to change the colour of your jeans–" I answered before she flicked my face.
She glared but I could feel and see the blood creeping into her face.
"Now we look ridiculous." She grumbled. "Emerging from the trees like a pair of..."
"Yes?" I drawled, glancing at those bright green eyes that were scanning the tiled tops of the houses ahead.
"Nothing." She muttered.
I could smell the smoke of the chimneys in the chilled wet air already. I could only hope they still kept to the old ways with the cuisine as much as the hospitality. When we reached the cobbled road I let her down carefully. Quinn pushed some wet strands out of her face before pulling it all back and tying her hair up.
I nodded up the cobbles towards the wooden houses clustered against the pathways.
She cast them curious looks. Lanterns swayed up the path and windows glowed warmth from within. A few bicycles were propped against walls and only one car could be seen. It was removed. Cut off from the outside world. Perfect to remove yourself from it.
A woman beat a rug under the cover of her porch and didn't notice us under the cover of the heavy rainfall and her duties.
It did not take long to reach the house I sought.
We went up the wooden stairs off the cobbles that streamed water now. I rang the brass bell dangling near the paper and wood doorway. Voices came from within for a moment along with the scent of green mint tea.
The door slid open carelessly–there wasn't much for criminals out this far from the city limits either way.
The old woman's face fell slack for a moment. Then–
She swooped into a quick bow before flinging her arms around me. I didn't even have time to finish my own bow. Her weathered hands were upon me quickly testing my face and patting my cheeks with fervour. Her snow white hair was wrapped into a perfect bun as usual secured by red pins.
"Blossom, you come back to us. Perhaps the sun too shall show itself in your honour." She chuckled, before noticing the mortal beside me.
I chuckled as her eyes scrutinised Quinn intently. She prodded the floor near her sandals with her walking cane and scowled at me.
"You bring me a tourist with no suitable footwear. Ah!" She clucked, swerving on her wooden geta sandals. Quinn looked to me at a total loss which only made me grin wider.
Aiko waved a hand over her shoulder and I took my boots off. Quin did the same with her mud caked sandals and left them next to my own on the porch. I gestured for her to cross the threshold.
"Her name is Aiko." I murmured close to her. "She speaks no English but greatly honours respectful guests."
"Gee, thanks detective. It would help if I could at least hold a conversation–" Her whisper was cut short by Aiko's call.
"Do you still enjoy your tea, blossom?"
"Very much so!" I lied, pulling Quinn into the living space and dropping down on the cushions that surrounded the low square table. Quinn scooted close as she scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. I snorted lightly.
"Totally at ease in the house of an immortal, yet terrified of an old woman." I muttered.
She elbowed me hard as Aiko returned. I fought the smile as she drew the steaming kettle near and moved to pour. I was on my feet quickly and offered my hand towards the kettle.
"Please, Aiko. Allow me to–"
She slapped my hand away with a hiss. "Ay! Down. I still treat my guests with honour."
Quinn tried to disguise her laugh as a cough. I took my seat beside her again with a sigh as the tea was poured and the white haired woman slowly took her seat.
"It is good to see you again." I told her in smooth Japanese.
Her soft brown eyes found mine but still retained the alertness of one much younger.
"Come now. I know you did not cross the world for my tea. It has been three Springs since your last visit..." She trailed off in accusation.
She was right to be irritated by such absence. Time had different meaning to me and it was a long absence for mortals. But my time in this village had purged them of as much darkness as they had helped rid me of.
"I need to reside here with a close friend of mine. Quinn." I told her, gesturing to the stunning mortal beside me who smiled politely at the use of her name but seemed unsure whether to offer her hand or try an awkward bow at the table. She offered her hand.
Aiko stared at it for a moment before amusement crossed her and she nodded.
"Anything. Always for you blossom. I hope you haven't caused yourself too much trouble." She muttered, pulling up her cup of tea and taking a long sip. She was used to what trouble I could cause...
I drew my own cup towards my lips and inhaled the smell.
"I will not bring the trouble to your doorstep. I only seek a place out of prying eyes so we can resolve it quickly." I stated carefully.
Aiko blinked once. Then nodded, gesturing behind her with a robed arm.
"I kept your weapons maintained for you." She said nonchalantly.
"They will not be necessary. I am reassured they keep you safe if ever needed." I said, drawing the cup to my lips. She snorted delicately at the idea of violence.
"My home is yours for as long as necessary. Though I do request something of you." She added.
I arched an eyebrow with a smile.
"I need some vegetables picked up from the market. Then you can tend to my bonsai tree in the garden. You must still earn your keep, blossom."
I grinned widely and bowed my head slowly. "Consider it taken care of. Quinn would be happy to assist me."
Aiko nodded and scanned Quinn's careful expression as she sipped her tea.
"Doesn't speak much. Is she mute?"
I choked on a sip with a laugh. "Not every westerner has mastered your tongue, Aiko. Be kind." I drawled. Aiko rolled her eyes.
"At least the girl is pretty. She could find a good husband here." Aiko offered with a curious look.
"Something tells me she has an interest already." I murmured with an innocent look. Aiko waved me off and set down her cup.
"Let us enjoy our tea, then you can take the girl and fetch our dinner." She said dismissively making me smirk again. I could feel Quinn's burning confusion but she was too polite to ask in front of the woman.
The conversation fell into a calm hush as the rain continued outside and the room filled with the thick, warm scent of mint tea leaves and mortal blood. When Aiko returned to her kitchen with the kettle I turned to Quinn. She was scanning portraits in the room, but the one that held her interest the most was an ink painting. A painting of me.
"Does she know?"
I stared at the painting too now as I answered her.
"No. But she knows enough that I can make bad people disappear." I told her quietly.
Quinn glanced at the side of my face. "She seemed so happy to see you... Like you were family."
I met those curious eyes. "I'll explain it all to you tonight. Me and Aiko go way back. I'm sort of her guardian angel." I smirked.
"She's not the only one that thinks that." Quinn said low, casting her eyes back to the dark ink painting of my face, half in shadow, half in light.