When Josh glanced a the clock set in the Hummers dashboard he did a double take. It was almost three in the morning. In the wake of the destruction of Hekate and the World Tree at the hands of Dee and his minions, Josh, Scathach, Nicholas Flamel, and his sister Sophie, had been driving the stolen yellow hummer for almost six hours straight. Josh glanced at the passenger seat, where The Alchemist sat, snoring. He looked older than before, the aging process accelerated through the heavy use of his aura during the fight with Dee and the cat and bird creatures. It was right before that battle that his sisters aura, a pure silver, had been awakened. Before Josh's aura, pure gold to his sister's silver, could be awakened, Dee, along with a strange woman with a cats head, had attacked their temporary hide out, with an army of bird and cat monsters. It was then that Josh saw the full extent of his sisters power, when she had used a whip made of her aura to turn the bird and cat monsters back into the harmless house pets they'd been before. He glanced in the rear view mirror, looking at his sisters sleeping form. After her display with the whip, Sophie had fallen unconscious, and Josh had carried her out to the hummer, which they were driving in.
He glanced further along the rear view mirror and saw the grass green eyes of Scatty staring back at him. "Something wrong?", she asked, her Scottish accent barely detectable. "No. Shouldn't you be asleep?", Josh asked. "Don't need to.", Scatty responded. "Cool.", Josh muttered before returning his eyes to the road. He didn't know what to make of Scatty, she was cute to say the least, but he was a teenager so just about every girl was cute to him. But there was something more to Scathach, something….powerful. She was over two thousand years old by her own account. But Josh had no problems with that. He had a thing for older women. He glanced in the mirror again, again meeting her unblinking eyes. It was then that he noticed the dark rings under her eyes. "Are you ok? You seem tired.", he said, trying to keep the concern from his voice, and failing. "The fight with those creatures took more out of me than I wanted, and I never liked birds.", she said, the barest hint of exhaustion in her voice. "I need to regain some energy.", she said. "Well don't expect a donation from the blood bank of Josh.", Josh said coldly. "I'm not that kind of vampire, I told you that.", she said, annoyance evident in her voice. "Than what do you feed on, if not blood?", Josh asked. "Energy from auras.", The Warrior answered. "Don't even think of touching my sister.", Josh said hotly. "I don't plan on it. She's spent.", Scatty said.
Josh was quiet for a few minutes. "You could use my aura.", he said, glancing in the mirror once more. He saw Scatty's eyes lose some of their ever present edge. "Are you sure? You're already tired. It could make you fall asleep.", Scathach warned. "I'll be fine. And if I do fall asleep, I'm sure you can take the wheel without crashing the car.", he said. He saw The Warrior give a rare smile before placing her hand on his shoulder. In a flash of gold, the heavy smell of oranges filled the air, and Josh's aura flared to life. He looked in the rear view mirror, and saw his eyes had become gold disks, while the aura enveloping him was slightly pulsating. He saw Scatty's hand was glowing gold as well.
What Josh didn't know, was that while Scatty absorbed energy from auras, she also absorbed emotions. As she gained energy from Josh, she gained what emotions he was feeling at the moment. Fear of Dee, distrust of Flamel, concern for his sister, jealousy of his sisters power, respect and…love for her. She let go of Josh, and his aura winked out like a light being turned off. "Something wrong?", Josh asked. Scatty hesitated before answering, "No. just recharged.", "Oh, alright.", Josh said before returning his eyes to the road. Then Scatty did something he didn't expect, she pulled herself around the seat, and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for the boost golden boy.", she said. Josh was glad it was still dark, it concealed his blush. "Anytime Amazon.", he said. "Don't insult me. I'm a lot more skilled than those barbarians.", she said. Josh laughed, hoping things could go somewhere with the two thousand year old woman known as The Warrior.
There it is, my first Alchemyst fic. Hope you enjoyed it.