After leaving Remi to finish whatever chores he was doing in the alley, Talon stepped through the back door of Sanctuary into the kitchen. His timing was nearly perfect because Aimée was just stepping into the kitchen from the opposite direction of the dining room. When they saw each other they both froze in their spots and stared at each other for a couple of breaths.
Aimée recovered first. She tried to give Talon an easy smile, but she couldn't help but wonder what could have brought him to their door. "Hey Talon. Are you and the family here for a meal? Or are you hiding out from Sunshine's cooking again?"
Talon shook his head with a laugh replying, "No, nothing like that this time. I hear you're the bear to talk to about getting a sit down with the newest member of your motley crew."
"Parker? You mean she hasn't... I mean I thought..." Aimée shook her head then answered, "Of course. I think she just got home, follow me."
Neither of them spoke while Talon followed her through the foyer and up the stairs of Peltier House on their way to Parker's room. Once they got to the closed door, Aimée placed a soft hand on Talon's forearm to get his attention as she nearly whispered, "Being back... it's kind of been emotional for her. I'm sure she's been meaning to call you because I know she'd love to see you, but it's been..."
"Hard. I get it Aimée," Talon interrupted by putting his hand over top of hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Plus this is her first time back since... well you know. And her dad had it in his will that he didn't want her to come back right away unless it was for a position as a Squire."
Talon stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief for so long that Aimée actually started to squirm in her spot. He then took a step away from Parker's door and lowered his voice to say, "Jimmy really did have that written into his will? I thought that he was just joking about that."
Aimée shook her head with a sad smile. "No, he really did. Well he had them put in that if he passed from any unnatural, or more specifically something violent and Dark Hunter related, he didn't want her to put herself in harm's way unless it was needed for work. After she heard the details about what happened here she decided that she would honor his wishes... but she wasn't happy about it."
Talon gave Aimée a sympathetic smile. He well remembered the night he hadn't been able to make it to Sanctuary to help defend it from a wolf pack that had teamed up with demons to try to destroy the Peltier family. Everyone from Fang's pack had come to fight as well as Acheron, his demon companion and her friends along with some other Dark Hunters that had been available to fight as well.
"I can't imagine that she would be. Thanks for the head's up Aimée."
She inclined her head to him then slowly moved away from his side saying, "Anytime. Just call me if either of you need anything."
He gave her a smile and a resolute nod before turning back towards Parker's closed bedroom door. Suddenly everything Aimée had told him hit him all at once. Parker wasn't going to be the scared little girl who had only cried once when the two of them were completely alone after she had been told that she had been enrolled in Boarding School what was located nearly halfway around the world. Of course she had surprised him back then because her tears weren't the result of her being scared of being sent to an unknown place far away from her family and friends. No, she was afraid that she had done something wrong while helping to care for her dying mother and that she was being send away as a form of punishment because her father was disappointed in her. Talon had tried his best to convince her of the contrary, but he was sure that when they parted ways that night that he hadn't succeeded.
Of course what Talon didn't know was that before he passed away Jimmy (Parker's father) had had a sit down with her to explain everything. He had flown to England for her graduation and sat down with her at a pub to buy her her first (legal) pint of beer. He then told her everything that he had been too grief stricken to articulate half a decade before. Parker had known that her parents had been in love, but she had no idea that they were soulmates in the purest sense of the word. Their souls had been reincarnated and reconnected more than once over a couple of centuries, but this was the first time that they had been able to actually start a family and have a child that was an expression of their love. Park had always been mature for her age and it hadn't taken her long to understand that her being sent to a school in a foreign country hadn't meant that she was being sent away. By her high school graduation she understood that it was her dad's way of sending her to safety. But she was relieved that he had actually taken the time to sit down and explain it all to her and confirm her suspicions all the same.
What she hadn't told anyone was that the night she had spent at the Pub with her dad was one of the only reasons that she had stayed in England after he was slaughtered. When she heard the news her first instinct had been to head back to New Orléans to take out anyone that had been connected to the wolf pack that had attacked Sanctuary when it had been at its most vulnerable, but then she looked at the letter that her mother had written just prior to her death that her father had delivered during his departure from England after her graduation. Both of them called her their once in a lifetime miracle and said that this time they knew they would all re-unite in the Elysian Fields where their souls would finally be at rest together. Because of those words and sentiments she had respected her dad's wishes and stayed in England until she was called back for this job.
Plus it gave her time to study and train. She may not have gotten her first kill under her belt yet, but she did know how to use everything from a ballpoint pen to the heel of her shoe to take down a Daimon if she needed to do it.
Of course Talon didn't know any of that because after the first and only time he had witnessed the strong-willed Tomboy break down into gut wrenching sobs that he couldn't calm down, he completely backed off. They had always been buddies and he didn't know how to be a pillar of emotional support for her. She had written him a few times to tell him what it was like for her at Boarding School, but he had never written her back. All of her letters were basically a description of where she was and a justification for why it was a good thing for her to be there, so he figured that they were her way of getting feelings out she couldn't say to anyone else and he sort of just ignored and then forgot about them.
Was that why she tripped over herself to get away from me? Talon shook his head and squared his shoulders to try to remind himself not to think like that. He was a fierce Celtic warrior who had sold his soul to a Greek goddess for a moment of vengeance as well as an immortal lifetime fighting soul sucking vampires. No, he was a warrior, he could face an emotional young, female adult without her defeating him in any way.
At least that's what he told himself when he forced himself to finally knock on her door.
He heard a muffled 'Just a sec!' before the door slowly started to open. "Sorry Aims, I know I told Remi..."
Parker completely froze with her mouth gaping open once she noticed that it wasn't Aimée who had being knocking at her door.
Talon had really wanted to play it cool but once Parker was revealed, he too couldn't help but stare at her with his mouth hanging open.
"Parker...? Are you...? Do you need me to get Carson?" Talon finally asked once he found his voice once again.
Parker laughed softly as she pulled at what looked like three layers of skin that she was pulling off her face. Without saying anything in response, she turned her back on Talon and moved towards a vanity that had been set up on the opposite side of the room. Talon wasn't sure what he was supposed to do so he stepped inside the room and close the door more out of instinct and habit than anything else.
He watched Parker drop something into her trash can before she approached the antique styled ash basin sitting on her vanity. Parker then pulled out a wash cloth and wrung the excess water out of it without looking like she was going to acknowledge that he had spoken.
"Sorry that was just my weekly peel," she finally explained as she scrubbed at her hairline and other random parts of her face. Talon remained silent because he wasn't sure what was happening to her or how he could possibly help her right then.
After she had finished, Parker returned the face cloth to the wash basin. She then turned back towards her bedroom door. Talon still had a strange look on his face, so she quickly explained, "Oh... uhhh... that was a face mask... it helps to... well it's for those of us who weren't born looking like a Grecian... err uhh... I meant Celtic god. Sorry if I freaked you out."
The fact that she still sounded like the Parker he know of old seemed to throw Talon off his unofficially planned game. Parker gave him another worried once over before she started to fold random articles of clothing that were in a wicker basket on her bed.
"I know you're not... I mean you're good... umm... I mean you aren't like Shrek or anything..." Parker rambled as she kept her eyes on her hands that were haphazardly folding random articles of clothing. "I mean it's just that Artemis is a goddess, so if you... err... anyways, I... umm... sorry if that comment... you know... uhh... but I didn't mean to... err..."
Talon quickly placed both of his hands over Parker's to force her to stop her movements. "Parker? Could you maybe slow down so that we can sit down and talk?"
Parker's hands instantly stopped their motion the second that Talon's flesh touched hers. Without taking her eyes off his hands touching hers, Parker let the clothes she was holding fall at their feet. Her eyes then slowly traveled up his body until she was looking at his chest as she slowly started to nod.
Still without saying a word, she started to sit down on her bed which caused her to inadvertently slip her hands out of his hold. Once Parker was seated on her bed, she looked up at Talon with the same wide-eyed questioning look she had given him as a child and he felt a familiar clenching in his abdominal region. The first time he had felt that around his son he had known it was a familiar twinge, but he could never really place it. Now he remembered it. More importantly he remembered that he had blocked it from his memory because it was close to the same look his sister had used to give him as a spirit before she told him she was ready to take on the challenge of being reincarnated.
She continued to just stare at him like she was a lost puppy trying to get help home, so he blindly pulled at a chair behind himself to sit down.
As soon as he was seated Parker seemed to snap out of whatever trance-like state she had been in. She sat up straighter in her place on her bed as she hurriedly explained, "I swear I haven't turned into a stalker Tee! Sunshine really did drop that painting and it didn't have a business card on anything on it, so I didn't know how I was going to get it back to her and then I saw her again on the street, so I tried to return it to her then but she ran out of hands to carry all of her stuff so SHE ASKED ME to help her carry it home! I swear I tried to give her an out but she ran out of hands so she needed help. I had no idea she even knew you! I was just trying to be a Good Samaritan for a... uhh... an artist who needed an extra hand so I... I... y'know... I helped her."
Talon didn't feel his jaw drop as Parker spoke, but he suddenly realized that he was gaping at her after she had finished the longest run on sentence that he had ever heard a human utter.
Parker's cheeks started to turn a darker shade of red with every second that Talon remained silent. Parker had never really been able to deal with awkward silences well, so she opened her mouth again to spill more verbal diarrhea on him. Talon quickly threw up his hand to silence her and her eyes bulged when she saw a large scar on his palm.
Parker quickly snatched up his hand between both of her as she exclaimed, "HOLY SHIT! You've been mated too?! I didn't know Sunshine... she isn't...? Wait that doesn't..."
Talon gently tugged his hand out of Parker's now slack grip replying, "Sunshine isn't a were of any kind. That isn't a mating mark... per se..." He saw another myriad of questions pop up in her mind, so he grabbed at one of her hands with his left hand to silence her as he added, "If you give me a second to catch up, I promise I'll go over everything... okay Peapod?"
Parker's blush darkened at hearing the nickname only Talon had ever used for her. He had a look on his face as if he was waiting for her to reply, so Parker swallowed thickly then hoarsely whispered, "Okay Tee."
"Okay." He smiled softly and sat back in his chair. Once Parker somewhat mirrored his stance, he gave her a cheeky smile, bordering on a smirk, as he asked, "Did you really meet Sunshine at Café du Monde?"
Hearing his mocking tone cause Par's mind to clear and any sign of a blush faded from her skin. When she finally spoke her voice had a bit of a hard edge to it. "NO. Yes I first saw her there after she had stumbled into someone and dropped her painting of a rundown shack in the Bayou, but I didn't actually catch up to her until she bumped into some other unsuspecting stranger on the street and dropped yet another painting."
Talon had been trying to hold in a chuckle until he heard Parker's unkind description of his old home that Sunshine had insisted on including in her latest exhibition. "Hey, whoa! Wait a minute there Sweet Pea."
"Oh no..." Parker mocked because she was becoming genuinely annoyed after hearing the name he had only used on a handful of occasions when he was trying really hard to tease her. "Was that shanty...? I mean mom and dad never took me there, but was that little hole she painted...? It's where you live? Well you shouldn't feel too embarrassed, she made it look cute."
"She did not make it look cute!" Talon nearly shouted as he stood up so fast that he caused the chair he had been sitting on to topple over.
Parker shrank back in her seat and actually cowered in her place at hearing Talon raise his voice. Her bottom lip started to quiver and her voice was thick with tears when she whispered, "I was just trying to tease you. I didn't mean it."
She refused to look up at him while she spoke which made Talon's heart sink. He then walked up to her to wrap her in a hug and said against her head, "I know you were. I'm sorry I raised my voice. Can we start over Peapod?"
He felt her nod against his stomach. He then took a step back and picked up his chair to sit on it once again. They both stared at each other in silence and Talon took a moment to actually look at her and quickly catalogue the changes he could see. Gone was her strawberry blond hair. Instead she now looked like she would fit in well with Acheron and Simi because of her dyed black hair with indigo blue streaks. She still had the most expressive, bright blue eyes he had ever seen, but other than just looking older with drastically different colored hair, she really hadn't changed that much.
Parker started to squirm under Talon's assessing gaze but she forced herself to remain silent. She had been the first to speak when he came into her room and that hadn't gone well so she was going to wait for him to take the lead this time.
Talon felt incredibly awkward sitting in his chair practically staring at Parker, but he forced himself to push those feelings aside to get them both back on track.
He tried to give her a warm smile as he said, "Welcome home Parker."
She smiled softly and had tears in her eyes when she replied, "Thanks, it's good to be back."
"So I assume that you being here means that you've been assigned to a Dark Hunter. Do you know who it is yet?"
She shook her head replying in a much calmer sounding voice, "No, I find out tomorrow. No one seems to know of anyone that was looking for a Squire here in town, so we're thinking that they might be importing someone. But either way I wasn't given a name. I was just told to be at Sanctuary at midnight tomorrow to meet my new boss."
"Tomorrow? But Aimée made it sound..."
"I came back a week early," Parker interrupted with an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks. "Aimée said that I could stay here because I wanted to reacquaint myself with the city before going to work."
"You've been home for a week?"
Both of them were surprised by the hurt they heard in Talon's tone. Parker cast her eyes down to her hands that were sitting in her lap. She wasn't sure how to respond to his tone of voice, so she decided to try to tell him the plain truth to see where that got her with him.
"I thought about calling you," she stated quietly to her lap. She swallowed thickly then looked up at him and added, "But then I remembered that I never actually had your number, only Dad did. I guess I could have... I mean I don't know if Aimée or Dev... but I should have tried to..."
Talon scooted his chair forward and placed a hand over top of both of hers saying, "It's alright Parker. I know this is a pretty big city, but I guess I'm just surprised that I hadn't bumped into you before seeing you on my front doorstep is all."
"You and me both Buddy," Parker retorted with a cheeky smile and a quiet laugh. "But I guess you're too cool to hang out at places like Café du Monde anymore."
Talon barked out a laugh as he replied, "Man do I wish that was the reason. Don't let Sunshine fool you by her stopping in there tonight. She has basically forbidden me to go there and 'pollute my body with that junk'. I swear that last part is a direct quote from her."
Parker smirked at his attempt at a light-hearted joke, but she couldn't help but wonder about the background behind his relationship with Sunshine. How had they met? Were they married or just living together? Had she really forbidden him from indulging in his favorite sugary confection? Had he actually listened to her?
Determined to get some answers, Parker tentatively reached out to take his left and then right hands in each of hers. "So does the mark on your palm have anything to do with the ring on your left hand?"
Talon let her flip his right hand over to scrutinize and trace his scar with her finger once again. "Actually it does. But it really isn't a mating mark. Sunshine helped to restore my soul... and I don't mean that in an airy fairy way. I mean she literally got me my soul back."
Hearing that declaration caused Parker's head to snap up so that she could stare at him. "You mean you're not... you've..." Her grip tightened on his hand as she quietly exclaimed, "Holy shit, that... that's why they're... Wow! I just... I mean I never would have thought that..."
Talon shook his hand from side to side as he playfully chastised Parker saying, "Hey Peapod, you're going to have to slow that big brain of yours down a bit so that I can catch up."
Parker blushed and smiled demurely as she whispered, "Sorry Tee."
For a brief moment he thought she wasn't going to expand on that thought, but then Parker carefully placed his hands back on his thighs. Talon straightened up in his seat at the same time as Parker and they reestablished direct eye contact. Parker took in a long, slow, deep breath. As she let it out through her nose, she squared her shoulders looking like she was mentally preparing herself for what she was going to say next.
"Sorry, I've been working on not doing that because I'm sure it's just going to piss off whoever is stuck with me as their Squire, but once I got back here... I don't... I just... Fuck! I just keep doing it!"
"It's alright Parker. Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm more than happy to wait while you collect your thoughts. Take your time."
"Thanks Talon. What I was trying to say was that I noticed something different about your eyes. I couldn't really put my finger on it... at least not until now. Your eyes are amber now and your pupils aren't... well they look more... uhh..."
"Human?" He supplied with a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah, that. And your smile... it looks wider too now that you don't have to hide your fangs."
Somehow his already broad smile widened considerably. For a moment Parker thought he was going to make a comment about that, but Talon remained silent. Since he seemed to be leaving the ball in her court, Parker asked, "So the mark on your palm? If it isn't a mating mark given to you by the Fates... umm... did Sunshine like brand you or something so everyone will know that you're hers or something?"
Again Talon barked out a laugh because this was Parker's quirky sense of humor that he was used to hearing. "No Parker it's nothing like that. During the whole process of me getting my soul back, it was actually Sunshine's hand that got burned so badly that she would have been scarred for life and lost pretty much all of the use in her hand." Parker opened her mouth to jump in with some of the questions that were on her mind, so Talon held his hand up to silence her. "Remember what my powers are Peapod?"
Parker scowled at what she thought was him attempting to change the subject, but she remained silent while she gave his question some careful thought. "There's the thing with the weather... but that doesn't..." When her next thought formed she looked up at Talon in wide-eyed amazement. "You can heal people. But... but... you never... I mean... Shit. When you healed my broken arm, you didn't get a broken arm, did you? Please tell me you didn't!"
He couldn't help but to be touched by her kind heart. Parker had never wanted to be the cause of anyone's pain and always went out of her way to ease others' pain whenever she could. The fact that his being hurt because of her was her primary concern made him smile. It really was feeling like she was just an older version of the little girl he had known. Not that he was naïve enough to believe that was actually true, but it was refreshing to him to see that life hadn't extinguished all of the pure goodness in her heart.
"Even if I did, that's nothing for you to worry about now. That's in the past and we can't change it. Now to answer your unasked question, yes I got this when I healed Sunshine."
"Wow. That's… that's so… awesome. You must really love her."
"I do," he replied simply before he winked. With a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, Talon then teasingly added, "Plus it's one heck of a way to guilt trip her any time I get myself into trouble with her."
"Talon!" Parked sighed out as she gave his arm a playful swat.
"What? It is!"
"I'm sure. And for you she just has to buy you beignets?"
"I wish! Seriously Parker that was a rare buy for her tonight. Usually she just puts Declan between us and he melts the anger away."
Parker scowled again as she filtered through the files in her memory for that name. Although Talon would always be her favorite, she had actually tried to study up on all of the Dark Hunters who call New Orleans home just in case she was placed with one of them. She pretty much considered herself an expert of sorts, but now she was realizing that there was a lot that she didn't know about the current events in his and those of his fellow warriors. For one, she knew a number of them had had their souls restored and had sort of left Artemis' service, but she hadn't really paid attention to the actual number or retained all of their names. The majority had happened after she left Boarding school and since she did her post-secondary studies at a non-Squire based University, she hadn't included the current domestic live of Dark Hunters as part of her curriculum. That was no something that she was regretting because she felt like she had lost her upper-hand. On top of all of that, she had resigned herself to the fact that she may never return to New Orleans so at some point she stopped making sure she kept up with the current events here because it was starting to feel to torturous and depressing.
"Declan?" She finally asked quietly.
Talon's smile softened into one of sympathetic understanding before he replied in a hushed tone. "I keep forgetting how long you've been away Peapod." He then reached into a pocket on the inside of his jacket to pull out his wallet. He quickly opened it up and retrieved a photo out of it. After looking it over with a loving gaze he passed it to Parker. She took it from him with a careful hand as he added, "He's the little bundle of joy Sunshine gave birth to."
"Wow," Parker whispered, staring at the photo intently. After she passed Talon back hi photo, she relaxed further in her place and added, "Wow, so you're a dad now, eh? I always thought that you'd make a great dad."
Talon didn't make any attempts to cover his shock when he replied, "Really? I didn't know you ever gave me being a father any thought."
Parker blushed and ducked her head to keep from letting him see the embarrassment in her eyes. "Well I didn't… err I mean it's not like… umm… you know I didn't… umm…"
Talon clasped her knee to gently shake it. "Don't be embarrassed Parker. I didn't really mean anything by that comment."
"I know you didn't Tee. And I just meant that when we hung out, I always thought you'd be an awesome dad because you were so nice to me. Declan must be spoiled rotten."
Talon chuckled and got a dreamy look on his face that Parker was sure was caused by him thinking about his son and wife. "He sure is… and not just by Sunshine and me, her parents were pretty excited to meet their grandson."
"That is so cool. So if you're one of the Hunters that have gotten their souls back and Samia is mated to Dev, who else from around here is out of the game?"
"Well none of us are fully out, we still help when we can."
"Really? I mean if I got a burn like that from returning a soul to my life mate, I would not be cool with them putting their ass on the line now that they aren't immortal."
"Who says all of us aren't immortal now?" Talon asked with a mischievous smile on his face.
Parker gave him a confused scowl while replying, "What? Are you saying that returning your soul to you didn't make you mortal? I thought that's how it was supposed to work."
"It is, but for some of us, we've been gifted with immortality from very gracious gods."
"What?! Who would…? How did…? When…? How…? What?!"
Talon chuckled again then answered, "That part is a bit of a long, complicated story that you and I can get into another time."
Before he could completely change the subject Parker gave him a hard look as she asked in a dire tone, "You promise?"
"I promise."
His reply came out so quickly that Parker felt compelled to add, "I mean it Talon, I will hound you until you tell me all about it. And if you won't tell me, I have no qualms with going behind your back and asking Sunshine about it. I DO know where you live now."
Talon just stared at Parker with his mouth hanging slightly open. She quirked an eyebrow up with a cocky smirk on her face in response to his stunned look. That helped Talon to shake off his momentary stupefaction.
"You really have grown up a lot Peapod. Now, I do promise I'll tell you, I really do. Just please don't get me into trouble with my wife, I can manage to do that on my own too easily and I really don't need your help with that."
Parker laughed at his reply. "Alright, I won't get you into trouble with the Missus unless it's absolutely necessary. Now you were going to say…?"
"Say…? Oh right, I was going to tell you about everyone you should know about that has sort of left the service. So there's me…" He waved his scarred hand at her to re-iterate his point. "Then there's Kyrian…"
"Kyrian of Thrace?" Parker interrupted du to her surprise. "Sorry. You were saying?"
Talon gave her a sympathetic smile. "The very same. He was then replaced by Valerius."
Parker saw the light dull in his eyes as one side of his upper lip curled up into a small sneer so she quietly asked, "You don't mean… not Valerius Magnus… the Hunter that's related…?"
"Yes that Valerius. Kyrian almost went through the roof when he found out that he was being moved here." Talon paused there and laughed to himself. That reaction seemed so out of place that Parker couldn't help but to scowl at him. When his eyes met her Parker could see that they were now twinkling with mischief. "But that was nothing compared to when he found out that his sister in law was sleeping with the enemy."
Parker's eyes goggled wide but she couldn't articulate a verbal reply. Talon stood to shake he shoulders and chuckled saying, "Breathe Parker, just breathe."
"So if she's sleeping with the enemy, would I be correct to assume that Valerius has been re-ensouled too?"
"'Re-ensouled'?" Talon repeated with a humorous tone.
Parker shrugged replying, "Hey, it sounded right in my head. Now quit avoiding the question. Is Valerius or is he not still a Dark Hunter?"
"Not," Talon answered. "But Kyrian got to help with returning his soul, so that helped to ease his pain enough that now he lets his little one visit his niece and nephew."
"Whoa… so Valerius is a dad too? Wow… oh gods that's…" Parker snickered softly. "Their family dinners must be pretty interesting."
"You can say that again. But I wouldn't blame Kyrian and Val for that, their wives' family is quite… interesting. But that's a whole other story."
Parker rolled her eyes then said in a pretend annoyed voice, "That will have to wait for another time. Seriously Talon I will hunt you down if you don't make another date with me." After those words were out of her mouth Parker threw her hand over the bottom half of her face as her cheeks turned a bright pink color. "I didn't…. I mean, I know… oh gods! I'm such a spaz!"
"Parker it's okay, I know what you meant. I do promise we'll talk again, you have my word on it. In fact, hopefully it will be on a regular basis. Now back to the topic at hand. When it comes to the Devereaux sisters… Kyrian and Valerius' spouses, you'll probably be running into them at some point soon and will have the pleasure of finding out about them on our own. Actually, now that you're older you should go check out 'Pandora's Box'. Val's wife Tabitha owns it and that would give you some insight into who she is."
"Oh… umm… alright…" Parker took a moment to compose herself and took in a long deep breath before looking Talon square in the eyes to say, "So Kyrian, Samia, Valerius and yourself. Anyone else I should know about?"
"Well there's Acheron. Although he hasn't really changed how he does things sine he met Tory and they had their little guy… Parker…? Are you…? Are you okay Peapod?"
"Holy… shit…" Parker finally gasped out. "Gods I missed a lot while having fun at university. Shit… Acheron is married too? Wow, now THAT kid is one lucky little booger. Alright… alright… I think I've recovered from that aneurysm. So you, Samia, Kyrian, Valerius AND Acheron. Anyone else?"
Talon took a moment and appeared to give her question some serious thought. When he spoke again he didn't seem to be actually addressing Parker at all so she remained silent and let him sort out his thoughts.
"Well there's Sin… but Jimmy and Jordan never spent any time in Vegas… or Seattle… oh and… nope you wouldn't remember him even if you met him… oh… ugh… and… oh… shit…" He then turned his attention back to Parker to ask, "Where were you born again?"
"Alaska," she replied almost hesitantly because she couldn't fathom how her birth place would be connected to Dark Hunters who had regained their souls.
"Dammit, that's right. Jimmy… I mean your dad always was a bit of a softy and he always tried to find the best in people even if they didn't deserve it." Parker opened her mouth to ask what Talon meant, but he held up his hand to silence her. "You were probably too young to remember him, or so I hope, but do you remember ever meeting Zarek at all?"
The name didn't immediately ring a bell so Parker initially started to answer to the negative. "No… oh… oh wait! He's that scary mofo that has that… that claw things that he wears, right?"
Talon couldn't help but to laugh at Parker's innocent sounding description. "The next time he's in town, please tell him that description just like that, please?"
"Talon!" Parker scolded with an exasperated sigh. "Quit poking fun at my expense. Yes, I remember Zarek. In fact I think he even stayed with us once because Dad didn't want him staying in town by himself in some strange house. He was pretty gruff and he looked hella scary, but he was never actually mean to me."
"That's because you were the cutest little thing on the planet and I don't think that Hades himself could have found it in him to be mean to you."
"Thank you for the compliment Talon, but back to the story please."
"Alright, alright. Well that, what did you call him? Right! That 'scary mofo' has gotten married and has become a father too."
"Whoa… shit! No way! Well I guess there really is someone out there for everyone. So what kind of woman could finally tame him?"
"A goddess. No seriously Parker, she's legitimately a goddess and they live on Mount Olympus. She's related to the Fates or something. But there you have it. That should be it for the Hunters that you knew growing up. And before you ask, if I forgot anyone and you hear something you need confirmed, just call me and I'll give you the low down the best that I can."
Parker smiled answering, "Thanks Talon. I'll be sure to hold you to that."
As he handed her a small piece of paper he replied, "And just to prove I'm telling the truth, here's my number."
Parker took it from him and unfolded it to check that there really was a phone number written on it. "Thanks Tee… I'll… I'll text you later so that you have mine too."
"Sounds like a plan. So, enough about all of us. What about you Parker Wallace? What have you been up to since I last shared beignets with you at Café du Monde?"
"Me? Not too much. I went to school, graduated, spent a year traveling around Scotland, went to University, worked in a Pub, and now I'm back here to FINALLY do the job I've been training to do basically my whole life."
"Oh come on Parker that can't really be it. No Beau pining away for you and crying into a pint of beer every night because you've left him?"
"Well I guess that is just the Cliff Notes, but those are the highlights. And no… no serious guy because… well you know how it is, you can't tell them everything so it makes it hard to really connect because… well… you can't be completely honest. And most of the male Squires… well they're more like brothers and cousins, not boyfriend material. Plus I knew… well I hoped that I would get assigned to a Hunter and the likelihood of them being in England was slim to none because everyone there is so well established with their Squires and their families so…" She let out a heavy sigh. "So long story short, no guy."
He took a hold of one of her hands then replied with a sympathetic voice, "I know, it can be rough. Lucky for me Sunshine sort of knew about the not so natural parts of the world at large, so it made it easier to tell her about me. Plus she was pretty much thrown into the thick of it when we first met."
"That thing with Camulus a few years back?" Parker asked through a series of yawns.
Talon looked genuinely surprised as he answered, "Yeah. You know about that?"
"I got together with a couple of my classmates one night before I headed back here. They both had their Hunters designated to them at birth, so they stayed in the loop more than I did and they couldn't stop talking about it. Acheron's evil brother teams up with a Celtic god to get back at you and try to end the world? That stuff is crazier than anything anyone is writing for the big screen right now. Seriously some messed up shit… that you'll have to tell me about… another time."
Talon chuckled then said, "Yeah looks like I owe you a few long stories. But it's getting late and you look like you're getting tired."
"And you should be getting home to your wife and little one." Parker stood up and wrapped her arms around Talon to give him a tight, almost uncomfortable hug. "It was so good to see you again Tee. I've really missed you."
Talon ran his hands up and down Parker's back to try to soothe some of the emotions he heard creeping into her voice. "It's good to see you too Parker. Hey after you get settled with your Hunter, you should come over to properly meet my family."
Parker sniffled and swiped her hand under her nose as she pulled back out of their embrace. "Thanks Tee, I'd really like that."
"Hey, Peapod? What's wrong?" Talon asked as he cupped both of her cheeks in his hands and brushed away a couple of tears that had trickled down her cheeks. "Where did these waterworks come from?"
She sniffled again as she twisted out of his hold to walk over to her vanity. There she plucked a couple of tissues out of the box and blew her nose into them. She kept her back turned to him while she calmed her breathing and dried the tears that were trickling down her cheeks. Talon watched her in silence because he didn't understand what he had said to upset her, so he wasn't sure what he could say to fix it.
When she felt that she once again had her emotions under control, Parker turned back to face Talon. His heart sank when he saw fresh tears gathering in her eyes, but he kept his mouth shut just in case he was the reason for her distress.
Parker opened her mouth to speak, but closed it right away. Talon saw that her bottom lip was trembling, so he took a step forward to try to comfort her as he quietly said, "Parker… I'm…"
She silenced him and froze him with a wave of her hand. "It's not you Talon. It's just… I'm finally back… FINALLY… but… but what if…? What if they don't like me?"
"Don't like you?" He questioned, genuinely confused by her question.
"My Dark Hunter," Parker replied sounding like that answer should be obvious. "What if they don't like me and I get sent away again?"
"Oh Parker," he replied with concern in his voice as he pulled her into another hug. "That's not going to happen. There's no way that anyone could hate having you as a Squire."
Parker huffed out a laugh with her face pressed against his chest. She then squirmed in his arms so that she could rest her cheek against his chest. Once she was able to breathe more easily she nearly whispered, "A lot of people get super annoyed when I start yammering on in incomplete sentences. That could annoy someone enough that they won't want me to work for them."
"Oh Peapod, please don't talk like that," he whispered against her hair. He then squeezed her tightly in his arms then pushed her back so that he could look her in the eyes. "Hey just because you work for them doesn't mean you'll see them all that much. Most of your work will be running errands during the day or helping with damage control at night. If you're lucky you'll barely see them at all except for in passing."
Parker gave him a watery smile and asked, "You really think so?"
"I really think so. Plus, I honestly don't believe that they'll hate you at all."
Parker took in a long breath and exhaled it slowly with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes again she actually did look calmer this time. "Thanks Talon. If you believe that then I can at least try to as well."
"Well you should because it's true. So? Would you maybe want me to come here tomorrow as emotional support?"
Without replying beyond a high pitched squeal, Parker launched herself into Talon's arms again. She tightly wrapped her arms around and legs around his neck and waist as she replied, "You'd do that for me?"
Talon couldn't help but to chuckle at her reaction. He shifted her weight slightly so that he held her more comfortably against one of his hips, "Of course I would. Should I take this answer as a yes then?"
"Yes! Yes times infinity!" Parker nearly shouted. She then buried her face into his shoulder as she hugged his neck so tightly that she nearly cut off his ability to breathe.
"Alright. So long as you don't choke me to death, I'll be here for you."
Parker quickly released him from her hold. She landed on her feet with an embarrassed look on her face and apologized saying, "I'm sorry. I didn't… it's just I… we'll then you said… uhh… I'm sorry Tee."
"It's alright Parker. No harm done. But you should rest up." He scooped her into his arms for one final hug. "I'll see you tomorrow Parker."
"Okay. Until tomorrow. Sleep well Talon."
"You too Peapod."