Can Anybody Find Me?

Chapter 9

Gavin watching the mysterious Lone leave and had to ignore the part of him that wanted to follow her. He couldn't figure it out; half his instincts warned him to stay here, protect Belle and the other half said to follow Lone, take her under wing. If he had been paying attention, he would have understood. Lone was his Elonore, whose human face he hadn't seen since she was a child. Ever since, it had been a spirit watching a mortal. But now, he was seeing her with eyes that had a concept of beauty and familiarity. Instead, he was distracted by the feeling that one of hte two people in the room with him, were not what tehy appeared to be. One of them was Descended.

So he sat quietly and ate his General Tzo chicken, pondering hte strangeness of his last couple of days. He finally gets wind of the child he is looknig for. Roy warned him of greater numbers of Descended lurking, always indicative of a great Seduction going on. Then he meets Belle who takes him to an area that signals without a doubt that the child he was looknig for was here. But before he can make good on that lead, he was attacked by Descended and knocked unconscious. Only to be awoken by a young woman pushing energy into him, helping him heal faster. There was a connection there and instinctively he drew on it, pulling along with it her desire and passion.

Now there was a young woman in the next apartment, whom had been moments away from making love to him, without him knowing her name, her beau staring at him, as if Rimmon could see the indiscretions between Gavin and Lone, and finally Belle sitting there, hopeful and romantic but always out of reach for him. Rimmon gave Gavin one last frown and left to go after Lone. He suspected that Rimmon might be the Descended, but he was still too injured to focus and make sure.

Gavin realized that lead or no lead, he'd have to leave Belle behind for her own safety. If hte Descended were attacking in packs, they would kill her without worrying about the exposure. She was a good soul and didn't deserve the issues involved in knowing him. And if she were secretly a Descended, than he would have to kill her, and that would destroy his lead anyways/

Gavin reached for the connection between him and Elonore, and couldn't grab a hold of it. It was there, filling his senses, telling him that she was so close. But he couldn't grasp it anymore. As if he'd already found her and marked her, but he hadn't done any such thing. Resisting a surge of worry, he figured it was due to his injured state, that after adequate rest and recovery he could begin to track her again.

He looked at Bell and desided to get one thing settled, just so he wouldn't hurt her worse later. "Belle... I want to thank you for helpnig me." he started. She smiled at him, her eyes lighting up with real happiness to see him well. He drew a breath and plunged on. "But as tempting as it is to take advantage of what it is you do for a living, I can't sleep with you."

She blinked at him, hiding hte pain his rejection stirred in her. "Can I ask why not?" she asked softly.

Gavin ignored the part of him that wanted to soothe her with kisses and caresses. "I'm on a job right now. Sort of dangerous as you can guess." he indicated his injuries. "I can't in good conscious drag you into that. I would love to be your friend, but I can't be anything more." he offered, hoping to retain at least a thread of connection to his best lead.

Belle frowned, looking vulnerable and hurt. But then she smoothed her brow out and smiled. "I would love to have you as a friend too. I guess knowing what it is we both have hiding in our pasts, I can understand that there are some things just beyond us at this point." she agreed.

He felt relief wash through him and gestured for her to come to him. She slid the tray out of the way and she snuggled next to him, a friendly hug. He felt pleased with his solution and never noticed the hurt in her eyes.

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Lone groaned in her sleep, thrashing in a blood pumping, heart raising nightmare. She was disturbingly aroused at the same time as being feverishly terrified. Jerking awake with a hiss, she forgot the details of her nightmare as she realized htere was a man in her bed. She started at Rimmon's sleeping face, partly thrilled to have him there and partly disappointed that it wasn't the mysteriously compelling Gavin in his place.