It was a gorgeous day out in Los Angeles, the sun was out, traffic was only moderately backed up, the air was semi-clean, and Jake had only seen-and stopped-one mugging. All and all it was a pretty slow day in the City of Angels, but it was the perfect day for a walk rather than take his bike to his Aunt Carol's. He reached down to his sweatshirt pocket just to make sure that the envelope he'd gotten was still there. It was his letter of acceptance into UCLA, at first Jake wasn't even going to apply but ever since last spring his aunt had been on him about furthering his education.
Oh if only she knew that an education in this world did little to nothing for him in his line of work. But Jake didn't mind it really, going to school gave him something to do during the day other than putting his body through some psychotic training regimen that Father Matthew had cooked up. No school and no excuse not to train was a big reason why he hated summer. But those days were gone now, at least the part where Father Matthew made up some new exercise, the training still happened but now it was of Jake's on doing.
Ever since he'd ascended to the rank of Saint Shield and was more or less charged with keeping all the Beings in LA in check he'd had to make sure he was in the best shape that he could be. As of now he'd been assigned to 'deal with' a grand total of 16 Beings who had gotten a little bold in the wake of LA losing it's Saint Shield governance. But once Jake was put to work the Beings have been pretty quiet. Sure there was the typical vampire who thought he could steal a few people for his food, or a werewolf run amok during the full moon but Jake left those to the new kid on the block.
Ever since he moved out of the church and into an apartment with Lance, deciding who would replace his mentors the Proctors was the topic of some very heated discussion back in Aeria. As of now Wallace's second in command Cynthia Marystol was manning the church and bringing up some new kid. Jake and Lance had met the new kid a few times and it was almost funny how little the kid could actually do right now. But Jake knew better than to laugh because he was probably the same way when he was that young and green. And besides, who was he to pass judgment on someone who was probably having the same issues that he was.
Jake was turning the corner of the block where his aunt lived. They lived in the suburbs which Jake had to admit he kind of liked because even though he grew up in the city itself, it was still nice to get away from all the flashing lights and car horns once and a while. He nodded to an old couple getting their daily exercise as he neared his aunt's little two story house. She had a big dog with a bit of a biting problem where new people were concerned which he thought was a good idea because in this town you never know what might come knocking.
Will, his little brother that he never knew he had, was still at school right now but would be coming home soon. The nanny was with his little sister Abby right now, she normally stuck around until his Aunt Carol came home from work but there were rare instances in which Jake had to watch Abby. He came to visit them all every day at 3:00, because he just liked having this whole other family that was separate from the life he grew up with. He brought it up to Lance who actually agreed with him, though Lance's own family were as much apart of this life as he was since his twin was a werewolf and his mother being very much aware of their 'conditions.' Despite her knowledge of Beings in the world Lance told his brother Pierce that it was best she didn't know about the Saint Shields. That being said Jake was very careful about what he told his Aunt about. She knew that he knew his way around a gun even better than she did but she didn't press him for answers which Jake was glad for.
He walked up to the small one story house that his aunt lived in and knocked on the door. He heard his baby sister crying inside and not too long after his knock did the nanny Gwen appear. She was a middle aged woman that Jake figured had been friends with his aunt for a while. It didn't take her long at all though to figure out that Jake was who he said he was. Evidently he really did look like his father who was a bit of a douche bag if what his aunt Carol told him could be believed. Either way he wasn't in his life nor was he in Will's or Abby's and as long as it stayed that way Jake couldn't be paid to care about him.
"Oh Jake thank god I can't get Abby to stop crying, maybe you'll have better luck." Without even giving Jake enough time to reply the nanny grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him into the house. Bringing him over to where Abby sat on the floor a gob of snot running down from her nose and tears streaming down her cheeks. "I tried feeding her, changing her, giving her toys, walking her, bath time, putting her down but nothing's calming her down."
"So you think that I'd know what to do?" Jake asked looking at the nanny like she'd just lost her mind. "Contrary to what you may believe, I'm not magic I can't just make her stop crying."
However no sooner did those words leave Jake's lips did Abby's tears and wails begin to stop as she looked up at him. As far as baby's went Abby was normal he supposed, Jake loved his sister of course but he didn't know a thing about keeping a baby calm and content. To be quite honest whenever she was crying like that he usually had Eve work her magic on Abby to fix whatever it was that was wrong. But lately Abby's been taking to wanting to be held, damn his aunt was spoiling her again Jake thought to himself. Abby raised her arms up and Jake bent down to pick her up, she was getting pretty big too for being a little over five months old. Of course Jake having little to no experience with kids wasn't sure if Abby should be walking by now or not, she could crawl so he supposed that was pretty good.
"You are turning into a little brat you know that?" He said to his little sister wiping her nose with his sleeve. She gave him one of her heart melting smiles and did the one thing that made Eve squeal whenever she came with Jake on his visits. Abby put her head on Jake's chest as if trying to hug him. "Carol say when she'd be back today?"
"She said she might be a little late today but nothing too bad." Gwen called from the kitchen. "And see I told you she'd quiet down for you the little angel."
"Oh yeah she's just a little darling isn't she." Jake said sarcastically as he began to walk around the house with Abby in his arms. His sister liked being walked around but for whatever reason she liked it best when Jake did it, bit annoying actually but he could deal with it if it meant she'd quit her squawking.
Bending down and picking up one of Abby's brightly colored toys, a set of keys that beeped whenever you pressed the car button on them and jingled them in front of Abby's face. His sister let out a babbling sound and grabbed the keys and started to wave them about. "Just don't hit me with them okay-" No sooner did he say that did Abby take a swing and caught Jake right in the face with the keys. "You are a violent and evil little child you know that?"
As if in response Abby let out a laugh and started shaking the keys and going on about something in her baby babbles. Jake found Gwen in the kitchen fixing a bottle of formula and as soon as Abby saw the bottle she threw her keys and started reaching for it. Jake rolled his eyes and offered her to Gwen who just shook her head and pointed to the rocking chair. "You know that she'll only eat when you feed her."
"Alright alright." Jake said snatching the bottle and moving over to the rocking chair. He situated Abby and put the bottle in her mouth. "At least you can hold it by yourself now you little oinker."
"Oh you can be mean now." Gwen began tossing a dishtowel over the window opening between the kitchen an the dining room. "But just wait until she gets older and the boys start knocking after her. Than we'll see what kind of tune you're singing."
"I don't know why you and Eve think I'll change my tune about this when she gets older." Jake said beginning to rock. "Far as I'm concerned that day can't get here fast enough because then she won't be my problem and whoever she's with get's to tend to her every beck and call."
"We'll see." Gwen said with a grin on her face. "As she came and sat at the table with a cup of what could only be coffee in hand. "Where is Eve anyway? Hope you two didn't have a falling out I liked her. Must have the patience of a saint to put up with your mouth as much as she does."
"Her temper is worse than mine." Jake answered back looking down at his sister and checking to see how much she ate before giving the bottle back. "And we're fine by the way. She's just got a few errands to run, I'm meeting her and Lance at the mall after a while."
"Oh Lance how's he? I haven't seen him in a while either, how's he and what's-her-name?"
"Maria? They're better than okay. Half the time Lance doesn't even come home if that's any indication of how they're doing." Now that he thought about it, Lance hasn't been home in over a week now. He saw him of course but Lance has been staying at the harbor with Maria and the Los Lobos more often than not lately. Well the full moon did just go by so maybe he just feels more comfortable with them. "We're actually going on a double date today, going to go see a movie. Some chick flick about a cowboy I think."
"I saw that the other day it's not a bad movie might make you cry though." Gwen said which made Jake roll his eyes at her. "And I hope you're not using that apartment of yours as a sex pad either!"
"Okay I think we can just leave that topic where it is." Jake said a little loudly and feeling a bit of a blush begin to wash over his face. He and Eve had been going out for almost two months now, or 'officially going out' as his aunt Carol put it. As far as his aunt was concerned they've been dating for awhile, and every now and then one of these women would badger him about his sex life with her and make sure to remind him to use protection.
Truth be told he and Eve hadn't done much outside of kissing. Sure they slept in the same bed and all whenever they got the chance but as of now they still hadn't done the deed. He hated when his aunt or Gwen brought it up, especially when Eve was around because than he'd have three girls pressuring him for answers about everything. Eve of course knew that Jake was still a virgin and frequently enjoyed teasing him by saying she'd tell his aunt and Gwen which was such a cruel thing to do that it made Jake cringe.
"I don't need to remind you that a baby is hard work." Gwen said and Jake just slumped down in the rocker as Gwen went off on her teen pregnancy speech. "Just remember how much work Abby is for you, and with her you get to leave and go home. Not the case when you have one of your own. You and Eve had better not be trying to start a family yet until the two of you finish school and after you get a good job to support her."
"If I'm the one doing all the working than why would Eve need to go to school?" Jake asked just to be a smartass which earned him a straw to the face. "I'm just saying! If she's at home taking care of herself and the baby presumably, then why would she need to go to school if I'm the one that's bringing the bread home?"
"For when it's your turn to take the baby!" Gwen said. "Eve will have 9 months of hormones and watching what she eats, probably at least 5 years of wanting to be a stay at home mom. She'll want to get out in the world and get a job too you know. Then it'll be your turn to bring up your baby unless you want to hire a babysitter which would just be another way that you're using money that you could be using on your baby."
"Jake's having a baby!?" Will exclaimed with bug eyes that were as big as his head. "I'm going to be and uncle!"
"Oh noooooooo." Jake said quickly. "Not for a looooooong time. Abby will have a kid before I do."
"Not if Eve gets a catch of baby-fever and starts popping holes in your condoms."
"Shut up!" Jake snapped which just made Gwen bust out laughing. "Eve wants to do things with her life, no time for a baby not for at least 10 years."
"What are condoms?" Will asked tilting his head to the side.
"Ask your brother, I'm sure he has one in his wallet." Gwen said snickering to herself. "In the mean time I'll fix you something to eat."
"Do you really have a condom Jake? Can I see it?" Will asked getting up in one of the chairs around the table. "What does it do?"
"You'll learn about it school when you get a little older." Jake said shooting Gwen a glare before taking the bottle out of Abby's mouth who had fallen asleep sometime in the last few minutes. He got up and put her in her little pen that they kept out in the living room for her. "Speaking of learning what happened in school?"
"I had gym today and we started the basketball unit today, I'm not very good at that but Mr. Donovan says I'll get better. In math we're learning about decimals and I got a 100% on he fraction test!" Will went on and on about his school day telling Jake and Gwen every little detail that came to mind. He even told them about how he got a little red dot on his cheek when his friend Harry poked him with a red marker. And he had to bring out his art project that he'd made, it was a Paper Mache mask that was made from his own face and was supposed to be of him if her was a superhero. "Oh and then at lunch me and Harry and Kevin and Frankie and Emily all had the same thing! It was weird because we even had the same color tray and even the same kind of sandwich!"
"Sounds like you had quite the day." Jake said propping his head up on his hand. "Tell you what, tomorrow how about I help you with your basketball?"
"Okay! But can't we do it tonight?" Will asked.
"Not if you have homework." Gwen said setting down a perfectly cut peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of him. "Now quiet down and eat your sandwich okay buddy?"
"Okay." Will said cheerfully as he took a bite out of his sandwich, swinging his legs from his chair. He couldn't quite reach the floor yet from the chair but Will was only 9 so he had plenty of time to grow yet. "What'd you do today Jake?"
"Well let's see." Jake said folding his arms in front of him and looking thoughtful. "I went down by the Pier early in the morning to help out a friend. Then I took my bike back to the city and took a nap, watched TV, ordered a pizza, and went out for some exercise and then I came here."
Will drank that all up with big amazed eyes even though Jake had just described a pretty boring day except for the pier. Actually Jake had gone down there because a few werewolves had been starting some trouble and he went down there to straighten out the issue. But being the big brother here he supposed that everything Jake did must seem amazing to Will. He was even determined to get a girlfriend after he found out that he an Eve were dating even though Will doesn't even like girls. He just wanted to be like his brother and he had a girlfriend in his friend Emily but other than that one time Will has never mentioned anything about it. Probably forgot all about it Jake thought with a bit of a smile.
"Alright bud get to the bathroom and get cleaned up I'm going to put supper on what do you want?" Gwen asked and Will said the same thing he always said by throwing his arms up and practically yelling spaghetti. It was his favorite and sometimes Gwen would actually make it but most of the time she could convince him to change his mind. tonight though was one of those times when she'd cook it.
Will hopped off his chair and ran down the hallway to the bathroom but had to turn around halfway there to get his backpack and put it in his room. Jake meanwhile got up from the table and moved into to the living room but not before telling Gwen not to make any for him. Jake flopped down on the couch and began to surf through the channels looking for a good movie to watch when Will jumped down right next to him.
"Godzilla!" He exclaimed. "Right there in the middle, oh please Jake can you put it on? PLEEASE!"
"Alright alright calm down you weirdo." Jake said before scrolling down to the movie and turned on the new Godzilla movie. Will was like a lot of boys his age, obsessed with monsters and superheroes, but no superhero could measure up to Godzilla. Every time it was on Will absolutely had to watch it, and that meant every time it was on. Jake had seen the movie so many times he could probably recite the whole thing by heart now.
About an hour later Jake got up from the couch and gave his body a good stretch. Abby had woken up from her nap and was playing with her blocks, Will was still engrossed in his movie. But the second Jake got up they both looked up at him like they didn't want him to go.
"Aw can't you stay for a little while longer?" Will whined.
"Nope I got to go meet up with Eve and Lance." Jake said messing up Will's hair and bending down to give Abby a kiss on the head. "I'll see you tomorrow Squirt."
Both Will and Gwen said by to Jake who told them to say hi to Aunt Carol for him. They both promised they would and with that he stepped outside. It was a gorgeous day outside and he tapped his letter of acceptance that was still in his pocket. He was going to show it to his Aunt Carol but she wasn't back from work yet so he'd wait to show her tomorrow. It was almost 4:30 and he was supposed to pick up Eve from Rayne's 'house' at 5:00 for their double date tonight.
With one more stretch Jake started jogging back toward the city where he lived. As long as nothing came up he could make the trip from his Aunt Carol's to his apartment in about 15 minutes if he ran. Plus getting some light exercise in after a whole hour and half of doing nothing was always a good thing. The people in the neighborhood knew him by now and Jake even had a secret admirer in the form of Casey Duncan, Will's teenage babysitter. She was a pretty enough girl but she was only 14 and Jake was 18, in hindsight it's not much of an age difference but if he looked at it in terms of dating a girl who would be a freshman this year while he had just graduated it seemed like a huge gap.
She was outside now like she always was at this time when Jake left his aunt's house. He waved at her and she gave him one of those shy finger flutters that girls do before her face turned a bright red. Jake shrugged as he kept running reaching the city in a matter of minutes, and reaching his apartment building just a few minutes after that.
It wasn't anything special but it was a roof over his head and that's all Jake cared about. Running up stairs taking them two at a time Jake dug out his key from his jacket pocket and once he was in he peeled off his shirt in search of a cleaner one. Before he did though he made sure to put on some deodorant and gave himself a few sprays of cologne before finding another shirt. On his way to his drawer though he figured he might as well brush his teeth. Once he was in the bathroom he contemplated taking a fast shower but decided against it. Since they weren't going anywhere fancy Jake decided on a plane black t-shirt that Eve had gotten him a few weeks ago. It still had the tags on it so there was no way that it could be dirty. He pulled it on and as soon as he did he was surprised to find that it was actually a little small, if he raised his arms up past his shoulders you could see a strip of skin.
Whatever he thought pulling on a black denim jacket, not like he was going to be stretching at all while watching a movie. Feeling fresher than he did when he came in Jake grabbed his keys and went down to the garage to find his motorcycle. He found it a block down from his building where he'd parked it last reminding him of one of the bad parts about living on his own in the city. When he came back there was no doubt in his mind that this parking spot all probably the rest of the spots that were even remotely within walking distance would be taken. Oh well he thought to himself swinging his leg over the seat and starting it up, nothing to be done about it unless he upgraded his living space. Or he could cheat life and have Eve create a spot for him and Lance to live.
"Naw that's too easy." Jake said before speeding away toward Eve's house.
He flew through the city bobbing and weaving through all the traffic that got in his way. There was one stretch of road that was too crowded though even for his bike so he had to cut through an alley or risk running down someone on the sidewalk. He'd rather not get arrested for running someone over so he picked the closest alley to him and sped down it only to find that it was an alleyway that turned and led him out in the wrong direction.
He let out a curse and turned his bike to the left before pulling up on the sidewalk since the traffic was only going to get worse. At least his bike wasn't some big Harley so it wasn't too difficult to maneuver with it. Still he had to be careful because he almost just bulled over some woman with a stroller. He turned to look at the mother and let out a shudder, the talk that Gwen had just had was still fresh in his mind.
"Oh get over it." He muttered to himself whizzing by a street. "Not like that's something you have to worry about for a long time yet."
Before the Saint Shields were forbidden from have children of their own, doing all of their recruiting by way of adopting children and raising them to become a Saint. At least that's how it used to be until his own mentors, Father Matthew and Sister Mary Proctor were killed this past spring and their way of raising and training him and Lance were brought into light. They raised them more like sons than actual Saint Shields which not only strengthened the bond between Jake and Lance, but made them more willing to listen and do everything that their mentors told them to do. Once that form of training was brought into the light, the Chairman of the Saint Shields declared that if two Saints should choose to get married that they were more than welcome to start their own family and afterward they would be given four years leave to raise their child until they were old enough to begin their own training.
It's brand new so of course there's a few kinks that had to be worked out. The last thing Jake heard was that there was a large dispute about whether or not it should be the parents who did the training. There was large argument that the parents wouldn't be as hard on their own child as they should be, while the other argument was that there would be no point in allowing the Saints to have children if they don't even get to see their children. Jake could see the points being made on both sides and to be quite honest he didn't know which side of the argument he came down on so he was thankful that he wasn't the one who had to make that kind of call. He could see what both sides were saying but since he himself didn't plan on having kids for a long time he didn't know which was right or wrong, or if there even was such a decision.
Either way he didn't give it too much thought as he pulled up to Rayne's 'house' which it took Jake a few times coming here before he remembered exactly where it was. there were a few instances in which he'd pulled up to the park where Rayne lived and sent the better part of an hour going around it and knocking on all the trees. And as it turned out both Rayne and Eve had been taking a walk in the park and watched him go from tree to tree laughing at him the entire time. But now he knew exactly what tree to knock on but most of the time he didn't even need to because Eve would usually be waiting by the guardrail for him.
This was one of he times that she was waiting for him and when Jake pulled up he couldn't even get a word out. Eve was a beautiful girl already but when she put the time into actually dolling herself up she was stunning. She was wearing some black leggings and a long sleeved brown shirt with a orangey-brown leather jacket hanging from her crossed arms. Today she was wearing a black beanie and as usual her hair was down but it looked a bit more wavy than usual. She wasn't wearing a huge amount of makeup just her usual gloss and maybe a little more eyeliner than usual but as far as Jake was concerned she looked perfect.
She gave him a smile before pulling on her jacket and giving him a kiss on the cheek as she swung her leg over his bike. "Hey stud." She said teasingly as her arms curled around him making Jake have to fight a shiver. "I was starting to wonder if you forgot me."
Jake turned his had and stole a kiss from her before saying the cheesiest line that he could think of as he always did just to spark a smile on her face. "Never."
And just like that the cheesy line did it's job making Eve smile at him and call him a weirdo. Jake just chuckled before revving his bike and off they went. Their relationship wasn't exactly uncommon among the world, but every time Jake and Eve were around others who knew who they were and what they did he couldn't help but feel like they stood out. Rayne wasn't entirely happy wen Eve told her that they were dating but she got over it after a day saying that if anyone was going to keep Eve safe it was Jake. It felt good to know that Rayne trusted him that much to say something like that, though he was sure that Eve would end up saving him way more than he saved her.
The ride to the mall was a fast one from where Eve lived, but Jake felt like they'd been riding for hours. Ever since they'd made it official and those kisses stopped becoming a witch greeting Jake always felt like his world grew ten times larger and he got 10 times smaller at the same time. Everything with her seemed to last longer and that wasn't at all a bad thing as far as he was concerned. But he couldn't help but wonder if se felt at all the same whenever they were together. It's not like he could just ask her because, well he just couldn't. And if he told Lance about how he felt that'd be like committing social suicide, he'd tell Eve and then they'd probably start teasing him for catching a bit of puppy love. Maybe he could ask Issac, he had more romantic experience than anyone else Jake knew having been married once.
Actually Issac was invited to join them tonight but he politely declined, he told Jake that he didn't want to be a fifth wheel and that they should all just go out and enjoy being young. Issac wasn't that much older than Jake was, at least he wasn't when he was turned into a vampire, but when he dropped weird bits of wisdom on them it became clear of the actual age difference between them. One time he'd asked Issac just how old he was when he'd been turned and he told him that he was 25 but that he just had one those young looking faces. Honestly it was kind of bizarre listening to Issac talk sometimes, he could be talking as normally as any other British teenager one second and then just like that he'd start talking like a 'proper English lad' as Rex phrased it one time.
Anyway now that they were here at the mall, all they had to do find Lance and his girlfriend Maria so that they could go and catch the movie. Right, find two people out of probably close to 2,000 in a big city mall that shouldn't be much a problem at all. Jake parked his bike and he and Eve started heading toward the mall's entrance. Well they had about 45 minutes to find the two of them before the movie started, hopefully they remembered the plan of just going to the theater when the movie started regardless of whether or not they found each other.
"So what've you been up to?" Eve asked looping her arm with his. "Word about town is that there was a bit of a dispute in Santa Monica."
"Yeah some werewolves without a pack are passing through town and they kind of tried picking up a few of the pack members." Jake said explaining the situation. It wasn't uncommon at all for packless werewolves-or rouges if you read young adult novels-to pass through a pack's territory and possibly intermingle. "The problem was that they were going after a group of young girls and Merrick didn't like that too much. Lance gave me a call and I went down to settle it. The wolves were going to get a bite to eat and then they said they were going to me on their way."
"Well at least it was resolved without needing any violence." Eve said and the look Jake must've had made her let out a sigh. "Did you kill one of them?"
"No but uh- well he's going to have some issues picking things up with his right hand for a little while." Jake said somewhat light heartedly. Truth be told that incident almost turned into a full blown brawl but Jake got the leader on the ground and shattered most of the bones in his hand. "It could've been a lot worse than it was."
"Well I'm glad Merrick let them go." Jake agreed with that whole heartedly. Ever since the leader of the Wolfhounds, Luis Charles was killed by Stark last spring Merrick stepped up as leader of the Los Lobos and effectively absorbed them into his pack. Unfortunately that meant Merrick was sticking around indefinitely and to say that he didn't play nicely with others would be putting it nicely.
"Anyways what about you?" Jake asked as they stopped to look at a small little stand that sold cheap jewelry, which was exactly the kind that Eve loved because even though it might not be real at least they were helping a business. "How's Rayne doing, I heard you're getting pretty close to your trial soon."
"Oh, yeah I am." Eve said picking up a multicolored necklace that would cover up half of her chest if she wore it. She looked it over a few time and put it back down before deciding on a significantly smaller necklace with a 'diamond' heart attached. "It's all coming a lot easier than it should be. Rayne said I should e ready to take it by the end of the month."
"End of the month?" Jake repeated as the two of them walked away but not before he had to help her put the necklace on. "But doesn't the trial take like a week?"
"Sometimes it could take a month." Eve said casually peaking in a small container that contained some bracelets. She tapped the glass looking at one of the 'gold' chain bracelets and popped her lips before standing up to look at him. She cupped Jake's face and gave him a peck on the lips. "Don't worry I won't be gone too long I promise. And we still have a whole month before than so we'll have plenty of time with each other until then. Now how about you go and get Lance and Maria so we can go watch that movie?"
Jake turned his head to see the other couple were getting food from one of the many places that sold food in the mall. He let out a sigh and left Eve where she was to run over to them. Since he'd been spending more and more time with other werewolves lately Jake had decided that having an enormous appetite was indeed a werewolf thing that wasn't limited strictly to just Lance. He quickly found that Maria as little as she was could just as much as Lance could and never put on any weight. Something about a faster metabolism or something like that.
The two of them were hammering down four hamburgers a piece by the time Jake reached them. He tapped Lance on the shoulder and when he turned around and saw that it was him he stopped chewing and just swallowed almost choking in the process. "Hey." He said half coughing. "We were just about to come looking for you."
"Clearly." Jake said raising his eyebrows. "How many of these shops have you two been to already?"
"Only one we missed was Old China Shop." Maria said after finishing her last burger and then stealing one of Lance's. "Never know how long these romance movies are going to me so you got to make e you have enough food in to last."
"With how much food you two probably already have in you it's a wonder that it's not backed up in your throat by now." Jake said looking at the table of wrappers that sat before him. "Honestly anyone who didn't know you to I'm sure is probably expecting you guys to keel over by now."
"Well after this mornings little it of excitement it mad us all hungry." Lance said turning to the table only to find that one of his burgers was missing. "Hey!"
"Took your eyes of the prize hun." Maria said with a wink just as Eve came up behind Jake. "So what's this movie supposed to be about?"
At that Jake just turned to Eve who'd been the one to plan out this little date of theirs and she began to rattle of the plot to them. And as Jake had worried it was a chick flick about some sort of tragic love story, at least from what he got out of Eve that's what it seemed like. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time he's sat through a movie that he hadn't wanted to watch for her and he knew that it damn sure wouldn't be the last.
~*~*~*~Rex~*~*~*~
Rex was lounging in his hammock above the store's counter when his young fiancé Estelle began shaking him by the shoulder. He opened one eye to look down at her, Estelle never bothered him while he as relaxing. Not because she couldn't but she just never did, she even went as far as to head people off when they were coming to ask him something so right away Rex knew that something was up. He flipped the hammock over and landed on his feet beside her. Rex wasn't the tallest guy in the world, heck he wasn't even 5'8 which was supposedly the average height of his age, but even so Estelle was barely up to his chin. She was just as old as he was but she was quite a bit shorter than him, still that didn't do anything to make her any less beautiful.
Their engagement was arranged sure but over time the two of them developed a bit of a bond. Rex wouldn't go as far as to call it love but there was a certain fondness that he had for the girl and he'd do anything to make her happy. Now though she looked more than a little concerned as she handed him a roll of paper no longer than Rex's finger. There on the side of the small scroll was the insignia of the Imperial Family and once he saw that he knew that there was a reason why Estelle looked so worried. The family wouldn't contact him for just any reason, something happened, and Rex could sense that that something wasn't anything good.
Breaking the seal on the side of the scroll he ran his eyes over the writing and he read it again, and again just to make sure that he'd read that right. "What's wrong?" Estelle asked looking up at him with her pale blue eyes. "You're scaring me Mitsu..."
"Uh- I don't even know how to react to this." Rex said letting the scroll fall from his hands and letting it roll between them. Estelle bent down and began reading it but before she could finish it the words just came out of Rex's mouth. "My little brother he's- he's dead."
Hanzo Ishida, the royal son, heir to the Dokkalfur throne, and also Rex's little brother and one time rival. Hanzo was always trying to beat Rex at everything that they did, whether it be sword fighting, archery, stealth classes, hand to hand combat. He could never keep up with Rex though because every single one of those things simply came naturally to Rex. There was an age difference between them too of course but that didn't bother Hanzo, he just said it would make him beating Rex that much sweeter. The last time Rex had seen his little brother had been over ten years ago when Rex had been banished from his home for breaking Dokkalfur law. He'd been a boy then and Rex nearly a man by their standards at 14 years old.
The letter didn't say what happened just that he would be allowed back home to attend the funeral should he choose. Estelle finished reading the letter and without much of a sound she came forward and wrapped her arms around him. Rex though didn't even move, he was still too much in shock over Hanzo. It didn't seem real, it just didn't, Rex kept waiting for him to wake up and still be swaying in his hammock but it never happened. This- this is real he thought finally hugging Estelle back. My brother's dead, but what did that mean for his family's throne? Would it pass to one of Rex's two sisters, or would it go to him? The thought of the throne going to him scared the life out of him and his grip on Estelle tightened.
"I have to go." He said out loud and his fiancé simply nodded her head against his chest. "I- I need to find out what happened...what's going to happen."
"Than you'd better not go alone." Alaric's ancient voice said from the doorway that led to the back of the shop. "You shouldn't go alone Mitsuhide."
His grip on his white cane was visibly shaking and his knuckles were a bright white. Neither of these two had to come with Rex when he was banished but both chose to live with him in exile over a life of luxury. Estelle could've stayed and married Hanzo instead and never have to work a day in her life, while Alaric would've become the royal advisor and have his every need tended to. But they both chose him and to this day Rex still didn't know why but now he was glad that they did, because they understood how Rex felt.
"Does that mean you're both coming with me?"
"You would have to kill me to keep me away." Said the old man with a look of determination on his face that made him appear decades younger. Estelle broke away from Rex's arms and nodded her head. "From Dawn to the end of Night I'm yours. I'm not letting you go back alone either."
"Thank you."
"However, we're going to need an escort back home sir." Alaric said and Rex simply smiled.
"Oh I think I have one in mind."
A/N: Well this is a pleasant change pace from the high level of action of Leon Pride. So as promised book two will have a large part take place in Japan and will feature the Dark Elves who I'm actually basing on the old Samurai of Japan if that's any indication as to how they will act. Anyway hope you liked this and hope you're liking Jake's development from the last book! PLEASE PLEEEEEASE leave comments because I really do enjoy talking to all of you guys.