~~Young~~

Chapter Five

   The thin did nothing for him, they reminded him too much of his time with Pestilence…

   She was, to Gage, as close to perfect as he could have ever dreamed…if he dreamed. Demons didn’t need sleep unless recovering from illness or injury. And when they did, it was just that, a healing sleep. Not a time when one’s subconscious imagined fanciful pictures to busy the mind while in rest. Still it did leave him curious to what hand of Fate put him here at this moment.

   She said it herself, she didn’t work there. And when overhearing her conversation with the Dean he learned she had been early for an appointment, something unheard of in this modern age. He himself had learned to show up at such appointments just a little late without apology. As if to say to whomever he was meeting that their time wasn’t of value to him. Just like in hell, it was always about the power play.

   Ah and wouldn’t you know it, as he stepped beyond the glass doors there she was, standing not two hundred feet from him in the middle of a group of her peers beneath the changing leaves of an old oak. Her gaze was hidden behind a pair of deep tinted sunglasses- which in itself was a shame- but her head tilted every so often up to the fifth floor of the building. Gage was inclined to do the same, and immediately he grasped the basics of her conversation. She was recounting the incident with the Dean, and just starting by the looks of it.

   Not a complete surprise, that feminine man who assisted the Dean seemed to be in quite the tizzy when he returned from whatever errand he was on. And not a moment before Gage excused himself. Certainly both his and Sera’s delay was because he had stopped her in the halls having seen the state she was in.

   Despite the distraction he still managed to slip his phone number in Gage’s pocket.

   So Sera was telling the group how the Dean made a rather aggressive pass for her, oh, well now that was interesting. It seemed that boy from the group beside her had some personal interest in her well being. No sooner than the words left her mouth his hands turned to fists and he made as if he would go after Fred. A love interest perhaps? Oh that would make Gage’s own attempts that much more enjoyable if it meant having to woo her away from another.

   She wouldn’t let him go after the Dean though, shaking her head and seeming like she was enforcing some kind of authority over him as he tried to argue otherwise.

   Interesting…

   But as that awareness grew stronger Gage knew his game of voyeur would have to wait.

   Michael was close.

   He trotted down the stairs and decided he had time for a quick stroll through the courtyard before meeting Michael. Giving a nod to Sera as he passed, causing a flurry of rushed words in his wake as he no doubt knew she identified him as her savior.

   Savoir, huh, that was definitely not a word one would have used to describe Gage…at least until her.

   Lost to that thought Gage didn’t hear the footsteps behind him till the hand firmly locked around his arm.

   “Hey, I was talking to you man,” the voice attached to the arm said not quite flustered, not quite aggravated…so then it was not Michael in any capacity.

   Not that Michael would have greeted him at all. He’d be more likely to punch Gage in the face…

   Gage turned to face the boy, an apologetic smile on his face, “I’m terribly sorry, how can I help you?”

   “I just wanted to thank you, for helping Se- for helping my girl with the Dean.”

   The grin bloomed in earnest on Gage’s face as he looked over the boy’s shoulder to see Sera, and her quickly averted stare. So then they were a pair of sorts, well, he did appear to be of the type to be dating her. He was everything she was just in male body. He reminded Gage of that actor who played Superman some years ago, most likely years before this boy was born. Perfect brown hair cropped short and neat, undoubtedly cut at some high end salon and not a barber. Perfect clothes to suit his not quite lean body even though they looked as if they could be off the rack from somewhere, most likely purposely so. Only there was an intelligence to his steel blue gaze that Sera’s didn’t have. He wasn’t calling her dim by any means- he had no right to, he didn’t even know her yet- but beneath her jaded gaze was compassion, not wit.