wc: 300+
The paladin seemed to draw strength from his calling. Alaine watched, intrigued by each phantom expression that dared show itself in the concrete angles of his serious face, wondering how long he'd been wearing the mask that hid mortality such that it blended, seamless, with his own face. Gabriel had become handsome since his gangly youth, but more than that - He had become more of a wolf. Her mind recalled the boy's awkward coyote frame from memory. So much had changed in him.
The sad smile, however brief, made her think of the boy he'd been. Her own maw twisted wryly.
His words did not surprise her. Alaine could see it in his eyes, now opened, their depths simmering with the ferocity of obsession. Of course he had run his whole life. In a way, so had she, but she'd been running away. He'd been hunting for something. She wondered if, in the end, he'd managed to catch whatever it was, but by the drawn look of his lancing gaze, assumed not. These monsters he spoke of would always exist, regardless of their destruction at his hands. In her case, they were monsters of the heart - Things that could not be vanquished, but could be conquered, gradually and with time for healing.
His next words froze her stiff. Emerald eyes balked in the glare of his fierce amber ones. He's dead. Her gaze tore from his own to linger on the duffel bag, pupils dilated as a painful montage of brief, heart-stopping moments ripped through her mind. Running. Blood matting her hair, pooling in her scratched-up palms. The stench of rotten breath warming the back of her neck. The blue, blue abyss of Beelzebub's flat eyes as they reached into her brain, paralyzing her body with fear...
Without conscious thought, her hand had begun to finger the throwing dagger again. Tentatively. He's dead. Unaware to stop the small shiver from rippling down her smooth spine, the lithe female allowed her gaze to draw away from the bag, staring momentarily at the echoes of the sun that had finally sunk below the horizon. Gabriel had killed the monster, Alaine was certain. She wondered briefly if he had enjoyed it, picture the man's sharp gaze filled with the fires of primordial and carnal pleasure as he took the demon's mortal life. The mental image unsettled her greatly, and she unwittingly took a step back and away from him.
"It's late." The healer's musical voice sounded strong, a lot stronger than she felt. Lit now by wane moonlight, the dagger in her hand glinted like ice. "Is somebody waiting for you?" He probably was part of a pack by now, as was she. Perhaps he even had a mate and children awaiting him in a home somewhere. Emerald eyes slid uneasily past the shadowed male, refusing to meet his own gaze. "I have tarried here too long..."
Speak think walk
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