A/N: I didn't want to be that expressive, but apparently my inspiration won't let go until I've written this chapter... :)
3. Like an old couple.
The following day, I quietly sat in front of my newly acquired computer, and started searching for that boy I had seen in the pub two days before. He reminded me of someone too. I couldn't just make out who, until I found his photograph on the Paladin's website.
The website was just a joke. Did they really think we were that desperate not to check who they were tracking? Every time they had a new target, his or her photo would be the biggest on the first page. This time, it was him.
David Rice. Doesn't ring a bell. But I'm still certain there is something in his face or eyes that I've seen somewhere else. I saw below it that his hometown wasn't that far from Boston, and that he had a girlfriend back in high-school, the looked-at Millie Harris.
I had a really bad feeling about this. Really, who'd be that idiot to get back to his hometown to check on his girlfriend? And having a girlfriend being a Jumper? No, I had to be imagining things.
Yet, when he had Jumped in that pub that night, he didn't seem to be afraid someone might know what he had done. Maybe that idiot thought he was the only one. Facepalm.
I checked on Google for his hometown, seeing if there was something interesting on it, and saw Millie Harris' name on the list of employees of the local student bar. Great. All I had to do was check on her, seeing if that git didn't Jump in front of a dozen Paladins, and save his ass. I was doing that all the time.
I got up, switched the computer off, put Sme out of the house with a bowl of water in case of (that bloody cat wouldn't drink anywhere that in his bowl, when he was living three yards away from a river), and locked the door.
I walked towards a high tree, climbed in it (yes, I can do that) and got down with a katana in my hands.
The katana. The best weapon ever against those bastards. I loved ripping their head off Ujio style. The Last Samurai's in my skin.
I checked my clothes one last time. Everything was important when you intended to kill people. Katana on my left hip. Torn jean that allowed my legs to breathe. Good running shoes in case. A leather top slim enough to hide the knives I was wearing in my bra. Still in case. Braid on my head, I didn't want any blood to ruin it, even if they were already red.
"Ready to go!" I Jumped, thinking really stubbornly about that watercontainer I had seen on the map.
I landed on top of it. Damn, it was bloody windy over here!
It was too risky to directly Jump into the bar. I first needed to check if there really were any Paladins around here. None, apparently. Those folks had horrible cars. Paladins always drove Mercedes or Bentleys or any other car that made them think they were superior. Duh.
I quietly walked towards the bar, holding my map as if I was a tourist. Best approach on everything, even in here. There were drunk students' yells inside, but I had seen worse.
A drunk man, about three years younger than me, tried to take a grip on by breast, before I gently pushed him backwards and he fell on his ass. Completely knocked out.
I looked around in awe, and spotted David, sitting not far from the counter, looking straight at a tiny brunette who was serving beers. That must be Millie.
I chose not to interfere and to stay there waiting for clues. Did he really think he was the only one? I couldn't think of someone so self-centered. I had understood I wasn't alone the day the Paladins came for me. There was no way an entire division would be created only for me.
"You didn't say goodbye, yesterday, darling." I shuddered at the voice, thinking I was dreaming, but he really was there, sitting beside me, taking a sip in a bottle of beer. I took it from him and drank. It was disgusting. The best beers ever were found in Ireland, everyone knew it.
"I didn't need to, I forgot why I was there."
His blue eyes widened. "Really? Well, I didn't realize you were that drunk!"
I rolled my eyes. "I didn't remember I was drunk until I made two meet two."
"I thought you were clever, baby."
"Stop calling me like this, Griffin. We're not even friends. Keep your Brits' hands where I can see them."
He grinned. "As you wish,-" I knew he was going to say my name, but we were cut dead when David punched another student in the chin, sending him in the stairs.
I could guess the fight would turn badly for the other folk. And so could Griffin. We looked at each other, nodded, and got behind them.
Wait, was I really working as a team with Griffin O'Connor? No, I must be deluding.
Few minutes later, everything was settled. David had momentarily disappeared with Mark, the guy he was punching, and reappeared without him. Of course. I wonder where he had Jumped him, though.
Griffin had offered for us to walk around the neighborhood, to see if there really wasn't any Paladins around there.
But of course, there was.
Griffin took my waist, but I knew it was a chosen move.
"Are you hitting on me, Griffin?" I said while gripping my katana's hilt.
"Yes. I'm pretending that you're just a casual girl I'd find pretty and take home." His whisper tickled in my ear.
"I really wouldn't say I look like a normal girl, Griffin. I wear a katana at my hip."
He rolled his eyes. "If you wanna play safe..." He Jumped out of my sight, but I knew he was engaging the fight, so I turned around, hilt at the ready. I took a defensive pose.
There were three of them. One was already trying to catch Griffin with his electrical stick, the two others were facing me. Too strange for a normal girl.
"Hello, there. Have you missed me?"
One of the two growled and walked towards me, slowly, probably expecting me the Jump away. I didn't.
He tried to shoot me an electric field, but I just walked away, calmly, focusing on his moves to know how to take him down. He was right-handed, but he put his left arm out in such a way to protect his chest. So he probably had been wounded there before. I grinned devilishly. "My turn!"
I jumped at his side, took my katana Ahsoka style, and cut a deep wound in his chest, where he was trying to protect it. I felt the metal get through the bulletproof jacket he was wearing, and then it entered his flesh, not enough to kill him, but definitely enough to make him kneel.
I cut his head to end his suffering, and bowed to him afterwards. I wasn't a bad person. I was only defending my life.
Griffin was struggling with his own Paladin, obviously more experienced than the one who had attacked me. And the last one looked like it would be hard to take him down too. I couldn't see any weaknesses in the way he stood, and I could see he was scanning me as well. I grinned.
Griffin, behind me, started casually talking. "Hey honey, when this party's over, do you fancy a drink?"
I laughed, still focusing on my adversary. Still no weakness that made the eye. "If I say no, will you feel sad?"
"Devastated." He growled when he punched the Paladin once more in the chest.
"Okay, then, I might say yes." I jumped forward and took my enemy by surprise. He punched me, or tried to, in the shoulder, but I shifted my weight and found myself facing his profile. The moment he turned, he made his leg swish mine and I nearly fell. Nearly, because I was trained. I gained balance again and waved my sword in the air. More in an intimidating way than anything else.
"I can do this all day, dearlie." His voice wasn't pleasant at all. I snorted.
"Either can I, Paladin." I waved the katana again, and whilst he looked at it in amazement, I got one of my hidden knives out of my bra and planted it in his chest, just under the collarbone.
He cried in pain, but quickly took the knife off to throw it at me. I wasn't quick enough to dodge this time, so I screamed when the blade cut my leg's flesh. I turned back at him, enraging this time, and before he could say Sorry, I had plunged my blade in his chest, until the hilt touched his skin.
"Burn in Hell!" I didn't bow this time, angry as I was.
I hadn't been aware before that moment that Griffin had shot his Paladin dead. When I turned to face him, he was leaning against a wall, playing with the gun he had found on his opponent. "You really are interesting to look at, Missy. Where have you learned how to do that?"
I shrugged. "Where do you think?" I wiped my blade on a towel I kept in my pocket at all times, and started walking away from the scene.
Of course, Griffin didn't let me alone. "Hey, you promised me a drink, remember?"
"Hey, David's taking Millie to Rome, tomorrow, remember? I don't want to end drunk like last time and forget what I was about to do."
It only made him grin more. "We are Jumpers, love, we can Jump to Rome when his plane arrives."
I turned to face him and pushed an accusing finger on his chest. He may be taller than I was, but I'm sure I could take him down any time. "You. Leave me. Alone."
"Ooh, feisty, aren't we? Are you so liking being alone?" I resumed walking, still hearing his pace behind me. "If I annoyed you that much, you would have Jumped away to your lair ages ago."
It struck me that he was right. I sighed. "Right. Can I ask a moment alone to grieve those poor people I just killed, or is it too much?"
His blue blue eyes widened in surprise. "You'd grieve people who tried to kill you?"
"They were people anyway. And they probably had a family somewhere." I knelt on the grass of a little patch surrounded my lampposts.
He left me alone for a moment, but I could still feel he was close to me. Instead of thinking about the deaths I had provoked, I started wondering what I should have done. Surely, I was attracted to Griffin like a bird to the wind, but I couldn't trust him. He was dangerous, I sensed it. And a drink, in Griffin's world, meant something really more than what it sounded like.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty, I'm not complaining, but this is usually the time when I move out of this town to somewhere safer." His hand on my shoulder made me shudder.
"You keep your hands to your pockets and I drink one glass with you. One." I put a finger in the air.
He shook hands with me. "I wouldn't have put my hands on you anyways. You're not my type."
I nodded and, hands still intertwined, he Jumped us to the same pub we had "met" in.
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