Paragon - Chapter 38: Chapter 38

"Everyone is staring at you." Quinn murmured, keeping her head low under a hoodie I had pulled out from the guest room–which was more my room than anything else.
I linked my arm with her as if we were nothing more than a meandering couple in the rain. In many ways we were... Only with a different past to those around us. Her warmth bled into my arm through the shirt that was becoming speckled with rain.
"Perhaps they find you more interesting." I responded not noting any of the shocked mortal eyes.
"You've really got to tell me what you were doing here." She said, angling her head towards me.
We drifted towards the stalls with fresh produce. I drew up Aiko's basket in my free hand and left the old woman's yen in my pocket.
"Good evening." I told the man leaning against crate watching a flickering TV news channel. He smacked it making the image clear before turning and bowing briefly with half his attention cast away. It suited me just fine.
"I'll get the shallots if you find the spring onions, Adams." I answered her instead.
I saw her smirk in the corner of my eye and couldn't help but find the change in environment funny too. Chartered jets and five star hotels had nothing on Aiko's famous soup either way.
We collected the supplies and loaded the basket. I left a crisp note on the table without waiting for any change. The mortal called out behind me but I took Quinn's arm again and threw him a wave over my shoulder with the basket in hand.
"So, what are you to this village exactly..? The wandering spirit that never ages?" She drawled, tugging at the chords of her hoodie before glancing at the tree tops around us.
"What was your idea of me before I told you?" I said easily, feeling her pulse quicken.
"A beautiful disaster."
I snorted and she grinned shaking her head.
"You know what I thought... Too fast, too strong... too shamelessly good looking to be one of us mere mortals." She chuckled. I rolled my eyes and let them land on her again.
"It was your fault for showing up at that hideous bar and ordering my drink." I deadpanned.
"I needed to know more about Epsom!" She defended, with false innocence.
"Quinn, you realise I know when you are lying?"
She giggled dropping her head low again and making me want to wrap her into my arms all the same. I scanned the streets instinctively as she tugged my arm along the cobbled streets.
"My life would have been so different if you didn't step in that night."
My blood cooled and I glanced at her. Her eyes were ahead, focused on something far away.
"I could feel the fear you had for him like I was there myself." I answered honestly. "And your heartbeat... I heard it streets away. All the way up to that damned office. He deserved his end." I finished in a detached voice.
She pulled us to a stop and stared at me. My eyes were on Aiko's house ahead, unable to turn the darkness I felt surging under my skin on her.
"You killed him that night." She said, as simply as if it were nothing more than acknowledging it was raining.
I dropped my gaze to her. I still felt my own darkness around her but she wasn't scared. She never truly was around the demon so near.
"Yes."
Her eyes scanned my face for a moment. The line of my jaw. The bridge of my nose. My eyes. Then she linked her arm through my own again and drew us forward.
"That's it?" I asked, still watching her.
"That's it." She agreed.
She was such a mystery to me. There seemed to be no feeling at all for such an act. Such a finality. But death meant many different things to many mortals... Some reacted to its cold grip with nothing at all–or much below the surface. Whatever it was she did not direct it at me. Nor did she seem to fear how I acted to remove that monster.
We were soon before the glowing orange lanterns of Aiko's porch. I stopped on the steps.
"Wait–Quinn." I paused, pulling her to a halt before it. "There's still so much I want–I need to tell you about me. I know you are okay with simply not asking for details but–"
She dropped her hood and pressed a hand directly over where my heart lay. Beating a slow steady rhythm. It made my words die. The soft orange light lit half her face as she watched me.
"You're going to tell me all about you and I am going to tell you all about me." She said in unbreakable promise. "But right now I've heard a lot about this soup Aiko makes and I don't know about you, detective, but I'm starving." Her serious expression broke and she gave me one of those trademark Quinn smiles.
I returned it, feeling it in my entire being. Her heart skipped.
"It is worth a trip around the world for." I answered, nodding forward and slipping my boots off by the door. Quinn did the same before padding in ahead of me.
"You take longer than an old woman!" Aiko called from the kitchen.
"I'll remember that when I take care of your garden." I retorted, walking into the room and setting her basket down. She turned from the sink and smiled widely at the full basket.
"Set the change down over there." She nodded to the table. I returned her original notes of yen I didn't use. Quinn waited in the doorway unsure. I winked at her before moving.
"We'll set up in my old room and find some warmer clothes if you don't mind–"
"Go! You know I do not like a crowded kitchen." She dismissed with another wave.
I bid her a quick bow and nudged Quinn as I passed her through the door. She followed me silently, glancing at all of the dated furniture and paintings.
"She has a lovely home. I wish I could thank her."
"You only need to enjoy her soup and that is thanks enough." I muttered, leading us down a narrow hallway to a door at the end. I slid it open and took in the small room. The last of the light came in through the window past the curtains but the rest of the room was already lit with candles and incense.
"So this was your room?" Quinn drawled, coming up to a set of draws and brushing a hand along the smooth dark wood.
I tilted my head and smirked at her curious gaze.
"I'm getting a memory of an immortal going through my personal possessions and summing up my life in London." She answered with a grin.
"Whoever would be so rude?" I asked with faux shock. I pulled out a chair from the desk in the corner and sat on it backwards so I could watch her.
She picked up a scroll from the table and raised an eyebrow.
"Just a few recipes." I told her with a steady smile.
She set it down. "Why do I not believe that for a second." She muttered, glancing up at a katana mounted on the wall.
"Were you a Samurai in a previous life too?" She quipped.
"I have teeth sharper than any sword, Adams. That is just for show."
She ignored me and drew it off the wall anyway in awe. With one hand on the sheath and another on the handle she drew it slowly. The metal winked at her in pristine lethality. I moved from the chair rapidly and stopped her hand when she drew it further.
"Please. Quinn. I don't want to even think about you losing a drop of blood on that." I stated.
She narrowed her eyes at me. "You've been testing your control around me in every other sense. Wouldn't it be better to know... Truly if you could stop yourself when the worst happened–"
I placed my hand over hers and lowered the weapon carefully.
"There's already so much about you that drives my senses mad. I'm not about to test the worst case scenario." I finished, slipping the blade back into the sheath. It didn't satisfy the question in her eyes though.
"How would you react? Just blind instinct?" She pressed, as I returned it to the wall.
I sighed and met her gaze.
"With you? With your blood in the air... I don't think there would be much left of me. It would be senseless. I would be..." I trailed off not wanting to commit myself to the idea too completely.
"But if you could control your instinct." She mused, turning to me more fully, "There would be nothing more stopping you. We could..." she shrugged, leaning against the wood, letting her words hang deliciously between us.
I shook my head trying to clear their meaning and the thought of Quinn and I together without the question of controlling myself around her.
"It's not that easy." I choked out.
She twisted her lips and avoided my eyes. "One step at a time."
I puffed out a large breath and crossed the room to take a seat safely by the desk. The energy around Quinn was too curious... To enticing right now. If I had no hesitations, no need for control the room would be filled with many different actions–I couldn't think on this.
"There's that conflicted look again." Quinn smirked from her perch against my dresser. I met her eyes with a glare.
"Sometimes I just want to give you exactly what you're asking for so you are scared enough not to ask me again." I growled.
She pushed off the dresser nonchalantly and crossed her arms as she walked towards me. I watched the casual sway of her hips with death in my gaze. It only amused her. Of course it did.
"How much desire would you feel with a drop of blood in the air?"
"It depends on whose it is." I grit out.
She dropped her eyes to me like it was an obvious answer. I tightened my hands against the chair as I watched her near me. "So many dangerous games you like to play." I muttered.
"I'm thinking longterm, Fletcher." She answered easily. "If this was the only thing holding us back... I'd want to move past it."
I scoffed, rising out of the chair and moving past it to stare her down. I let the inches hang between us so I wouldn't act in another way.
"This isn't like a bad habit to break, Quinn." I uttered darkly, meeting those burning green eyes, "–this is me not wanting to drain every drop of life from you."
"Yes, but it's hanging over us like that damn sword." She growled back. "The constant threat of what if. So why don't we take the damn thing and–"
"Because I can't lose you, Quinn!" I shouted, interrupting her growing anger. "I can't roll that dice. I can't throw down the last thing keeping that monster inside me." She stilled. I breathed out slowly.
"And what if it happens without either of our intention?" She asked slowly. "If cut myself any number of ways and you're not prepared..."
"I don't know." I answered honestly.
She brushed her hand along my forearm before gripping it. "In my line of work, we had to be prepared for anything, detective." She smirked at me despite it all. "It's what made me so good at what I did."
I raised my head and flickered between her eyes. "Are you seriously proposing what I think you are?"
"We're in a relatively safe place. That immortal is tracking us down one way or the other. I want us to be past this one way or the other." She finished slowly.
I flexed my jaw and watched her silently. She didn't move before me, waiting on my next words. I let out a slow breath and nodded minutely.
"I'm terrified, Quinn." I mumbled. "What you're asking is–"
"Shh." She placed her hands on my shoulders and made me meet her eyes. "Small steps. I'm not about to draw that sword on myself."
She edged towards humour but I could feel how much faster her heart was beating between us. The fear that should have been there all along was so present now. It made me despise what I was all the more. It made me want to be better. To be more than the monster wanting her blood.
"Maybe we should just catch another flight–we don't need to worry about funds–"
"Fletcher, stop." She shook her head and released my arm, "If we start running from this we'll never stop. I wasn't lying when I said I wanted my future with you in it."
I let her scent wrap itself powerfully around me and debated running back to the car now. It was madness what we were trying to be. What she was willing to risk. The beat of that warm heart. The life in her eyes. Everything felt bright and alive with her–but without her...
She moved to the dresser again while I stood unmoving like a cold statue. I didn't look up to see what she found. I felt her heat near me again with the object. A small throwing blade. An old Japanese tool used by warriors.
I stopped her hand when she drew it up.
"Please don't–"
"Do you want me in your life?" She asked me simply. Throwing those earlier words back at me. I watched her silently. She already knew the answer. Yet it didn't change what she was about to do.
The blade glinted in the warm orange glow of the lantern lights. I watched her eyes not the metal. This was a decision that would write the next course of our lives. If we would even get one together. Or if the monster was a finality for us both.
The metal hovered before her finger but she was intently focused on me. Instead of wasting it, I took the moment I knew could be so very finite. I bent forward and secured her lips firmly. The combined tension didn't break the balance of her mortality in the air. She kissed me back like she knew exactly how finite time was–how finite she was. Like she had weighed it already and seen what she wanted.
I let my lips linger for a blink then drew back slowly.
"Okay." I whispered, because I understood that look in her eyes.
One that said now or never.
* * * * *
The metal dented her skin as she applied a slight pressure and the breath in my throat ceased entirely. She took one final breath before–
"Soup is ready! Blossom, set the table!"
We both froze in the dimly lit room staring at each other and the blade so damn close to spilling that rich red life blood within. She let out a breath first and her shoulders slumped.
"Dinner." She noted in a daze. "We can work this out later." She said lowering the blade and setting it over on the dresser. I unfroze my body and rolled my neck.
"Jesus Aiko..." I muttered.
Quinn chuckled, and her heartbeat started to return to a non adrenaline fuelled normal. She headed for the door without delay. "It's not all bad. I still am starving." She noted.
"As am I." I said in a low voice, laced in irony.
Quinn threw me an exasperated look over her shoulder as she paced down the corridor. The moment between us melted away. A tense, life changing event that had just been halted by soup. Life didn't get any richer.
We entered the living room only to be invaded by the rich smell of Butajiru. Apparently a wonderful pork soup with vegetables. Quinn groaned appreciatively as she took her seat and saw the steaming bowls on the low table. Aiko smiled warmly as she set down the last bowl.
"At least the girl has taste." She noted near her.
"The girl has a name, Aiko." I grumbled, taking my seat beside Quinn.
"When she addresses me in the native tongue she may have her name." Aiko sniffed, settling before her soup and lighting more candles.
I rolled my eyes before meeting the weathered brown of her own.
"I want you to know how much I appreciate you doing this–" I raised a hand when she began to interrupt, "–truly, Aiko. You have done me a great service as an old friend. I will not forget."
A slight smile touched her lips knowingly. She had said similar words to me twenty years ago. Back in the time of drug gangs and armed Yakuza.
"It will get cold." She answered instead, picking up her wooden spoon.
I nodded and had the unfortunate circumstance of having to consume mortal food. I plastered a content expression on my face as I ate. But Quinn's was real. She set the spoon down after a bite and told me plainly that it was wonderful. I think it was just so she could express something in Aiko's direction.
"She likes it?" Aiko probed with a look of satisfaction.
"More than likes it." I answered her with a smirk. "They don't make it like that in the west."
"Where is it she comes from. The accent is distinct."
"London. She's from England."
"How on earth did you convince her to travel with you?" She asked pointedly with good humour.
I grinned and Quinn threw me a questioning look.
"Aiko is glad you like the soup. Though she can't see how you agreed to travel with me." I provided, blowing on another spoonful.
Quinn smirked across at the old woman and shrugged. "Certainly not for her cooking skills."
I relayed Quinn's retort and Aiko laughed heartedly. She set her spoon down and splayed her hands. "Tell the English woman that she's welcome to come back for real food anytime. And you–" she jerked a finger at me, "–you need to telephone more."
"Aiko, it's a matter of security that I don't keep–"
"Bah. You know my number. You telephone the mainline whenever you get near a payphone."
I smirked at the idea of such old fashioned means. Aiko in many ways chose to stay in the old ways more than out of necessity. It was stubbornness towards the new ones.
"Of course, Aiko." I bowed my head.
Satisfied she nodded. The rest of the meal continued in relaxed hush, but for the rain that still beat a steady rhythm on the tiles. Quinn's bowl was devoured. She made sure to thank Aiko again with her own head bowed neatly.
Aiko nodded and returned it. Already assuming the meaning to her words.
It was dark outside now. As time passed I became more paranoid. More anxious about that immortal's plans. The only reason I didn't fully lose my senses was the fact that I knew William would plan his approach. He would enjoy dragging out the thrill of the chase before finding us again. Just as he did from Mumbai.
We rose from the table when Aiko did and I refused to let her clean. Quinn and I took all of the crockery and plates to the kitchen and had them gleaming by the time we were through.
Aiko bid us a weary goodnight before yawning on her way to her room.
Quinn leant against the sink and crossed her arms at me.
"What?"
"You know what."
"Quinn, I just don't think the timing is right." I sighed.
"It will never be right. I want this to be on our own terms. Not an immortal psycho's."
She made a good point. Damn it why did she always need to make good points? I could convince a mortal of anything with shaky grounds but she always had an answer.
"One. Tiny. Spec. Of blood. Nothing more." I glanced past the window when thunder rumbled above. "Maybe we should try it outside."
"Not a chance." She dismissed, striding past me in the direction of our room.
I sighed long and loud. I blew out the candles and turned off the lights as I followed the pure, sweet smell of the mortal I was potentially about to become a monster in front of. One I may not be able to put back.
She was sat cross legged on my bed with the blade in front of her.
"You look like a horror film waiting to happen." I deadpanned.
She snickered despite her frantic heart. "Would you just sit down so we can be done with this already–"
"I'm not rushing us into anything." I reminded her with a stern look.
She leant back on her arms with a frustrated expression. "Yet if I don't push you on this we will never be able to truly be together. You know it as much as I do, Fletcher. Bringing that demon of yours to terms with the most tempting part of me fixes this."
"Who said your blood was the most tempting thing about you." I shrugged, mirroring her position and sitting cross legged before her. It drew that Quinn smile from her and a faint one tugged on my lips.
"Relax." She ordered.
"You're the one with the rapid pulse, Adams."
She pushed her sleeve up and pointed the tip of the blade to her skin again. It made my being freeze and my focus sharpen into a point. I didn't breathe now. I just watched. Waiting.
"I trust you."
Was all she said before pushing the tip into the inside of her forearm and unleashing the full power of her blood on my senses. My vision darkened and my attention snapped onto the rushing scent of it. The mind numbing, delicious scent of that mortal's blood.
It was all around me. It was me. It was a liquid gold I had never smelled the like of before. It was as good as the first time–no, better. I moved rapidly with only the faintest consciousness of the move. I took the warmth of her arm and drew it near to me closely. So rich. So enticing. A wine of strength that would outmatch any. It would be the finest taste–
A voice was speaking in the distance. But it mattered not. A hand pressed against my cheek so I reacted on instinct. I pinned both the mortal's wrists down beside her and let my teeth grow sharp. I inhaled deeply and felt everything disappear.
"Beautiful." I whispered, dipping my head down near her neck and running my teeth along her smooth skin. That voice said something else but it mattered not. The heat and pure pull of her very essence begged me to draw more of that blood.
I pulled her arm up and the blood scent became all the more powerful. It was the only thing.
"Tara..."
I shook my head keeping the warm, inviting voice away. Letting my teeth run along her arm loving the taste, the smell of her skin before I would reach that everlasting blood...
"Listen to me–Tara–you're in there–"
I growled at the interruption and levelled my dark eyes that would burn so gold near the centre now. The pulse increased under my stare. The blood grew so deliciously enticing... The mortal had quite enticing eyes–but the blood–was so much more...
"You're more than this..." The voice seemed to whisper around me. My teeth were razor edges and glinted before the mortal with the terrified pulse beneath me. I brought her arm back to my lips and ran them along her forearm. So close. So near to that perfect wine. So enticing, alluring me like–
The mortal tried to free her wrist but her struggle was nothing to me. I smiled slowly enjoying the way her heat was wrapped around me.
"Fletcher!" The mortal said louder. Urgently. Uselessly.
My lips found their way to the start of something magnificent. The beginning of that rich trail of red leaving her skin. I growled low in hunger and desire as I drew my teeth back ready to sink into her skin and drain every last drop of its richness. That heartbeat of hers beat so fast. So quickly. So terrified. A fear unlike any I had heard before.
A fear like that cold February night. A night outside an office. An elevator. A wooden door. A man with too much power leering over a stunning woman with burning green eyes. It was a lawyer. What was the name.
The name...
My teeth dropped down towards her blood the moment the memory hit me in full force like a bus to the torso.
Quinn. Adams.
I pulled myself back an inch before my teeth snapped down. I threw my body away from her without looking back. I saw the window. I flung back the shutters to the sound of a shout behind be and jumped clear into the night beyond.
I let out a shout of pure anger at myself–at what I was–what I was doing–
Then I ran.