Ryder woke with the feeling of being watched. He opened his eyes in time to see Thorn retreating from the doorway. Ryder parted his lips to call out to him but was stopped by a soft, sleepy moan from his fair companion. She rolled over and nuzzled her face against the warmth of his chest. Ryder's heart fluttered erratically in his chest. As gently as he dared he held her close - his large hands encircling her waist. He stared down at her, all tiredness forgotten, admiring the child like innocence of her slumbering expression as she dreamt soundly in his arms.
Ryder's eyes flashed back to the doorway. This was Lauren's room - what was Thorn doing here so early? Unconsciously Ryder's grip tightened around her. Chloe's eyes flew open. She spun off the bed in an instant and darted across the room careening into the chest of drawers with a resounding thud. Ryder sat up, his eyes wide with concern.
"Are you alright?" Chloe met his gaze, breathing heavily. She nodded but the tension didn't leave her. Ryder swung his legs over the edge of the bed and moved to stand but froze when she flinched back. "I'm not going to hurt you." He promised softly.
Chloe grabbed a fistful of her hair, tugging at the roots. The slight pain helped her to focus on the present and to stop the onslaught of memories from overwhelming her. Tears pricked at her emerald eyes but she blinked them back - not allowing them to slip their lashes.
"Th-thank you." She stammered.
"Thank you?"
"For staying with me last night." She cleared her throat, beating her fist against her chest as she paced agitatedly.
Ryder watched her in silence for several minutes. She let go of her hair and restless fingers latched only the hem of her loose fitting scrubs, tightly scrunching up the cheap material.
"Well done." He offered at last as he smoothly rose from the bed. Chloe's face scrunched in confusion. "You were having another attack but you kept in control of it and didn't start screaming. That's very good progress." He smiled kindly down at her. Chloe's mouth went dry and her gaze fell to the carpet at Ryder's feet. He chuckled, ruffling her hair as he walked passed. Chloe watched him leave and a hesitant smile crept onto her lips.
Breakfast at the hotel was very small. It was a buffet run by a flustered young man that mainly boasted coffee and heavy looking pastries. Chloe took the vacant space beside Thorn. He didn't say anything in greeting and continued to glare morosely into his cup. Chloe glanced around them - checking that nobody was within ear shot.
"Can we talk?" She whispered.
She scowled when Thorn continued to ignore her. "I need your help. I thought you wanted to save Ryder too." Her quick eyes noticed Thorn's fingers twitch before he hid them from view beneath the table.
"I thought you didn't want to." He murmured.
"I said that I couldn't and I can't - not without your help. I need to know if Ryder's being sincere with me - about his intention to change sides."
Thorn finally looked at her, his intense brooding eyes boring into hers.
"What do you want?" The harshness in his tone surprised her. Chloe bit her lip. What did she want?
"I don't know." Thorn turned in his seat to face her properly.
"Who are you?" Chloe's heart skipped a beat and sweat moistened her palms. Thorn caught the fear flash across her eyes.
"Am I interrupting?" Ryder's voice rumbled from behind them. He took the seat opposite them and Thorn immediately pulled back to create space between him and Chloe.
Chloe's cheeks were slightly flushed but she tried to act normal and hide how flustered she felt.
"Do you not know how zippers work?" She asked cheekily. Thorn glanced at Ryder's exposed abs and then quickly focused on his coffee - heat radiating off his neck.
"Oh dear," Ryder replied in a mock forlorn tone, "and I was going to treat you today." Chloe straightened immediately.
"Treat me?" The keenness in her voice made him chuckle.
He made her wait as he poured himself a drink.
"Yes I was thinking perhaps a shopping trip but since you're-"
"I'm sorry you look great never wear shirts again!" She gabbled quickly. Thorn snorted. "Please, please let's go shopping!" She looked like an adorable puppy staring pleadingly across at him with large doleful eyes. Ryder's jaw twitched. He couldn't say no to that face.
"Ok but behave kitten."
Chloe nodded eagerly - her happiness so clearly evident that Ryder struggled to retain his stern expression. She filled a plate with pastries and fruit for him and then watched him eat it. She didn't nag but her foot was shifting about impatiently. It was strange since Ryder couldn't remember Lauren having a particular interest in shopping or clothes but perhaps he'd just forgotten. Chloe meanwhile was picturing all the shoe's she so desperately needed in her life.
Chloe observed the pedestrians they walked passed. They all looked normal enough to her but this was a city for the supernatural. She tried to guess what some of them were. Just how many of the stories were true? Was she walking by fairies and ghouls? When they crossed over a tiny bridge Chloe peered at the green waters searching for mermaids.
"Why are you glaring at that pigeon?" Ryder asked, putting down his beer. It was the hottest time of the day and they'd stopped at a bar to sip cold drinks in the shade.
"Is it really a pigeon? Or is that what he wants us to think?" Chloe continued to stare unblinking at the ruffled bird in question. "It could be a shapeshifter in disguise." Ryder appraised their feathered stalker.
"In disguise as a pigeon with a manky foot." His tone was heavily sceptical. Chloe nodded seriously - craning her neck as the pigeon hop shuffled under a nearby table. The pigeon started pecking at crisp crumbs caught between the paving stones. Chloe sighed and picked up her drink, giving up on her pigeon theory.
"Is there such thing as a shape shifter?"
Ryder shrugged, "there's werewolves. Those born with the gift and those cursed. So it's possible."
"But you don't know for sure?"
"Supernaturals coming out in the open is a very new concept. There's still much to learn."
Chloe thought about this.
"It's good that it's all a bit more openly talked about now. I guess." She rested her chin glumly in her hands and played with the lemon slice in her drink. "Shame that it comes along with anger against humans." Ryder reached over and brushed a stray eyelash from her cheek.
"I'm a warlock." Chloe's eyes widened in surprise. Ryder smiled softly, his gaze dropping to the table. "You never actually asked."
Chloe was surprised by Ryder's lowered head and averted gaze. Her heart panged as she guessed the reason. Was he worried about her reaction?
"Project blue turned you into a warlock?"
"No. They knew - even though I had no idea. They unlocked my dormant powers and then modified them so I couldn't turn against them."
"Modified them?"
"Yes. It's hard to explain but... it was an extremely cruel thing to do. My powers," he finally met her eyes and Chloe gasped to see the pain swirling in their stormy depths, "their personal." Chloe's fingers flexed. "I've done many bad things. Many. But when I trained my brothers - I never did that." Chloe stared at the man before her. A broken man. A monster. But with a strange kind of honour.
"Ryder I...it's ok with me that you're a warlock. So... thank you for telling me." Chloe finished awkwardly. Ryder smiled, feeling oddly relieved.
As they headed back to the hotel the mood was more subdued. They had the shopping bags shared between them and Chloe followed closely behind Ryder - her head swirling with conflicting thoughts and feelings.
"Wilder it's like you've got a sixth sense or something." She'd been complimented once by a superior. "How did you know we were being followed?" Chloe felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She changed her grip on the bags.
Ryder saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eyes before his body was slammed against the wall. Blue fire instantly ignited in his fingertips and he turned and - hesitated. Chloe was standing with her back to him, shielding him. A man was in front of her, staggering back - before he could recover she threw a punch in his face knocking him to the ground. She turned in time to kick a second attacker in the stomach.
Ryder stared at her. She'd pushed him - pushing him out of harm's way... She grabbed the man by the neck and shoved his face down just as she brought her knee up to meet it. Blood sprayed out over the smooth paving slabs. Chloe grabbed Ryder's wrist and dragged him down an alleyway.
"Stay close to me." She commanded in a tone of voice that expected instant obedience. In the narrow alleyway Chloe stopped and Ryder saw what she was doing. She was forcing their attackers to face her one at a time.
Ryder's magic crackled in his fingertips but he resisted the urge to use it. He'd seen her fight before and her style and technique had altered dramatically. Ryder heard a crackling sound and his brow quirked up as he saw the next attacker brandishing a taser. Chloe grabbed the man's wrist easily and flipped him. The poor man groaned feebly as his back smacked against the pavestones. Another attacker was rushing down the passage toward them and Ryder waited to see her next move. The man was almost upon them and Ryder wondered what she was waiting for.
"I whispered surrender." Chloe spoke suddenly - her voice sounded strange and Ryder realised that she was staring at the young man lying at her feet. "But they couldn't hear me." Ryder shot out a pulse of his magic. The paving stones shrieked as clawed hands pushed through the earth and gripped the attacker's ankles. Half a dozen voices shrieked in fear. Talons from the underworld sliced through the bone and tendons. The men fell to the ground - their dismembered feet dragged down before their eyes. The man nearest them moaned and wriggled on his stomach desperately down the passage, blood gushing from his stumpy legs. "Why couldn't they hear me?!" Her voice had become hysterical.
He gripped her by the arm and spun her to face him.
"Lauren?" Chloe was lost in her memories. The bathroom. She'd recognised that young man - she'd seen him at Irrenhaus. He'd been in the bathroom curled up naked around a broken toilet. The bowl had been full of blood. He'd kept muttering the same thing again and again, "I whispered surrender. But they couldn't hear me. I whispered surrender."
"But they couldn't hear me."
Ryder shook her violently.
"Lauren!" He bellowed passionately. Her eyes flashed with recognition and she glared at him.
"Don't call me that! I hate it when you call me that!" Screams erupted all around them as pedestrians came across men without feet dragging their bodies across the ground. Ryder stared down at the woman before him, breathing heavily from the effort of restraining her.
"What should I call you then?" He asked softly.
"Maniac, you and me should stick together." That was what Darby had called her. Tears glistened in Chloe's eyes. Darby had died in Irrenhaus. They'd made it through two prison camps looking out for one another. But in the end she'd killed herself to escape that place. "Hell can't be worse than this." Chloe stopped struggling.
"Maniac. Call me Maniac." Ryder cupped her face tenderly.
"My Maniac." He lowered his head, a shadow obscuring the expression of his dark eyes and kissed her on the forehead.
Thorn stood in the shadows leaning against the wall. His eyes were closed and he was being incredibly still. A very observant person might have noticed the angle of his palms - so strange - as if he were holding invisible hands. Two tiny people hands.