Ranger [ON HOLD]

Chapter Twenty-four - Take Care

There was an odd sort of satisfaction to watching Martin walk away, shoulders stiff and hands clenched into fists.

Ranger wouldn't say he hated Martin. In fact, he had a few good memories with the guy. 

Granted, when they had first met, the two hadn't hit it off in the slightest.

-

"I will gut you with your own fork if you even try..."  Ranger cast the blond across from him a dry look, a hand cupping his jaw as he returned his gaze out toward the parking lot of the diner.  It was bare aside from three small cars, and two large trucks. Both of which held enough weaponry to put three men and the short boy across from him into jail faster than you could say "terrorist".

The pre-teen, Martin, held his fork hovering centimeters away from the last sausage on the relatively empty plate in front of the young hunter.

His eyes were wide, shocked that he had been spotted though Ranger's gaze had never once left the road outside for the past five minutes. If he had known Ranger, then he wouldn't have been shocked when the threat came. 

While Martin was only just a pre-teen getting ready for the grand-slam that was puberty, Ranger was already well on his way to becoming a full grown man. Though in actuality, he had earned manhood years ago.

He pulled his gaze away from the window to glance toward the end of the restaurant, where his self-proclaimed guardian stood to converse with an old friend. 

They stood away from the boys and any other customers that might overhear though the diner might as well be empty apart from the cook and waitresses.
Von, the ever imposing man he was, towered over the shorter man leaning heavily, if not a bit awkwardly on his cane. It was obvious that he was not yet used to it given the knuckle-white grip he had on it. Von had frequently spoken of him in high regard. Though Ranger was wary of him still. 

Von, he knew he could trust, but the stranger and his son? 

He cast a dry look over to the boy, barely able to hide his disdain as syrup dripped down the blond's chin as he demolished his second helping of pancakes. Though from the look in his eyes, he wasn't even tasting them, and Ranger had little doubt his eating was due to stress and shock. 

Though at the moment it seemed even Ethan, who currently was flirting with a pretty young waitress by the front podium, couldn't pack away food like Martin could. 

This boy, the son of a man Von called one of the best lore hunters in the world, had barely even peeked into Rangers world. And just as anyone could have predicted, he sat now eating his fears into oblivion. 

Despite the fact that he was growing increasingly annoyed with the boy, even Ranger didn't have the heart to tell him to stop eating. A small part of him even figured that the food would do him good when he was really introduced to the world he now belonged to. 

Because in this moment he was still innocent to the blood behind the curtain, even after it had fallen away to cast a glimpse of the dread the world had to offer. 

Unfortunately, once you caught sight of the danger, there was no going back.

-

Ranger pulled himself easily from the memory and back into the current conversation at hand. His hands slid lazily into his pockets, thumbs hooked in the denim of his jeans. 

"We'll be back by tomorrow night if we do a good job of timing," Artie informed, casting a hooded gaze toward the sky to gauge the weather and how it would affect their task.