Please, keep those reviews comin. 2. I quietly dropped a clue about who I really am in this one. Just in case anyone was wondering about the alternate identity of the superhero who is writing this. 3. Mind the rating, things get a bit…fun at the end.
Survival Skills: Tangled
Or the universe was kind of a dick. Isabelle thought when she woke up alone. She sat up and saw him silently rummaging through the supply sack. The man's ninja skills in stealth impressed still impressed her. He looked up and took the away the silver bag hanging from his mouth as she walked over to him. He had shaved the scruff of hair off his face and she marveled at how little sleep this man needed in order to be functional.
"Good you're up. Here." He handed her the bag. "I've got breakfast today."
"Thanks." She opened the bag that contained a pound cake MRE. "Uh, listen. About last night..."
"Please don't tell me you regret it." Royce said as he stood up and grabbed his weapon, not looking at her.
"Well it's hard not to when I was acting like some weepy teenager."
He looked at her confused for a second before he smiled. "Oh, you're talking about the nightmare. Forget about it."
"I wish I could." She looked up from the pound cake. "Wait. What did you think I was talking about?"
"Nothing." He looked down quickly and walked over to the hearth.
"You thought I was talking about our bath." She smirked, feeling strangely empowered by his sudden embarrassment.
"I.." He stopped for a breath, and then turned to her. "Do you?"
She knew what he was asking and the smirk turned into a soft smile. "I never regret a bath."
His eyes narrowed and slung his weapon behind his back. "How many baths have you had?"
"By myself or with other people?"
"With other people."
"One." She looked up at him playfully. "Although, I was thinking about adding to that number."
He growled and took a step towards her, but a noise from the antechamber halted his approach. Isabelle sighed, cursing Lilith's timing. She would have enjoyed what Royce and his dark eyes were going to do.
"That's Lilith. We usually go hunting about now." She picked up her lever action rifle and headed to the antechamber. Royce rubbed a hand over his face and followed.
Lilith stood in front of the cave and turned as they entered the antechamber. Isabelle stopped near the mikvah and waited for the she creature to finish her perusal of the relief. Lilith glanced behind Isabelle as Royce stepped behind her. Isabelle silently watched the exchange as the only two creatures she trusted on the plant studied each other. The she creature broke her gaze first, nodded at Isabelle and stepped into the darkness of the cave.
"She went in." Isabelle said a little stunned as she stared into the wake of darkness that followed her. The creature almost seemed to be terrified of the cave.
Royce glanced down the darken part of the antechamber before retuning his gaze to her. "So?"
"She's never done that before. What if she knows how to open the other door?" She said almost to herself, still staring into the cave. "We should follow her."
"The curiosity is eating you up, isn't it?" He grinned.
"You're not curious?" She looked up at him and crossed her arms.
"You're inquisitive enough for both of us. So, I'll leave you to it." He started rummaging through his cargo pants pockets.
"What are you going to do?"
"Scouting." Frustration marred his feature as continued to dig through his pockets.
Of course he was. "Well, see if you can't get back before lights out. Okay?"
"I'll do my best." He responded seriously. A smirk formed on his face before he triumphantly pulled out a cylindrical object from his vest pocket.
"Here." She caught the object he tossed to her and discovered it to be a small flashlight.
He unlaced the mask that was tied to his belt and answered the question she didn't ask.
"I pried it off my shotgun. Figured it would light your way better than a torch."
Epiphanies are strange creatures. The smallest, seemingly, most insignificant thing can set the world on fire. A falling apple can lead to the gravitation of the universe. A compass given to a boy can become the theory of special relativity. Isabelle stared down at the tube in her hand and had an epiphany. It was nothing history changing or a benefit to mankind, but it did set her world on fire. She was in love.
The thoughts in her head when he was gone and the wild beat of her heart when here was near all made sense now. Even the arcane nickname she had given him yesterday, which had rolled so easily from her mouth, made her want to smack herself in the face for being so dim. She couldn't tell herself it was a crush or a strange sense of gratitude any more. She felt like a weight she didn't even know she was caring was suddenly lifted only to be replaced by another. Now what? What would he think or do if she told him? Would he run scared off into the trees or worse? What would she do if she scared him off? Didn't he say just last night he wouldn't be scared by anything she said? She wasn't brave enough to test it yet.
"You okay?"
She jerked her head up at his voice. He had walked over to the outside door unaware of her inner struggle and now stood in a streak of dull sunlight shinning through the outside, with a small frown on his face. The alien rifle was slung across his back and his mask hung on his fingers. Cold air rushed up behind her from the cave, brining a fresh smell of dirt. The scene seemed strangely familiar.
"Nothing. Just... a little deja vu." She shook her head.
"What is?" He put his hands on his waist and turned towards her. She waved a hand at him.
"You, standing in the sunlight." She shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant and stepped to him. "Normally I would take the feeling as a good sign, like maybe I am where I'm supposed to be." She reached for his bracer and tucked in a few loose straps.
"But not now?" He asked looking down at her.
"Who knows." She shrugged and took a step back. "But I can think of a lot of better places we could be right now."
"Like where?" He asked unwilling to leave just yet. She tilted her head and looked outside.
"Anyplace with a grocery nearby would be great." She looked back and smiled at him. "How about you?"
He looked into her eyes and saw nothing but curiosity. He fought back the initial knee jerk reaction to tell her to mind her own business. An old self defensive mecinism that seemed to slowly ebb away the more he hung around her. She had done nothing to hurt him and in fact had gone out of her way to help him. It was a simple enough question and on that he had initiated, but still he hesitated.
"There's an old stone cottage with wooden floors near Canyon Lake in Texas." Her eyes grew warm and he felt embolden by it. "I go there at least once a year, to be alone, to be home for awhile. There's always a layer of dust on the tables and chairs that takes me a few days to clean." He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. "The view from the front window is amazing."
"Thank you." She whispered. "I..."
"I gotta go." He said quickly. He kissed her forehead and was gone. He left her with a swirl of dirt, a warm forehead and a renewed desire to get home. She reset the alarm and turned to the cave opening. She was halfway there before she realized she was singing a Shakira song. She shook her head and smiled at her own adolescent reaction. What was that terminology she had heard? Ah, yes. Head over heels. She flicked on the light he gave her and pushed such thoughts to the side as she plunged into the darkness of the cave. Focus is what she needed now.
I need to focus. Royce thought as he stomped through the steaming forest. The rain had finally stopped, but the humidity left him feeling sticky and miserable. He didn't know what kind of femmie spirit had gotten into him earlier, telling her all that stuff about home, but he wouldn't let I happen again. Then he remembered her eyes. Shit, he'd try not to let it happen again. If he wasn't careful he just might fall for the girl and that would not be good. Hell, he was half way there already.
He remembered the last time he fell for a chick. They were all into each other at first, but his job and his own surly nature got in the way. When he came back from missions all he wanted was a beer and nice conversation about what she did while he was gone. Instead she'd pester the shit out of him about where he'd been, what he did, and who he was with. He never lied to the girl, he just wouldn't , couldn't, say anything. In the end she got tired of all the secrets and time away. He could still remember standing confused and hurt in the rain as the taillights from her car faded away.
Still, it felt different with Isabelle. For starters, she already pretty much knew what kind of job he had back home and while she may not be okay with she at least understood. They were both, to use her word, predators. Then there was the way just the smell of her made him hard as a rock. He tried to remember if that was an issue with Lynn or not. Sure, he never got complaints in that department from her, but he was reasonably sure it wasn't as an immediate reaction as just getting a whiff as she walked by. Then there was the way touching Is's hair made him calm and he really needed to FOCUS.
He checked the traps that were scattered in front of the ruins and was happy to find one of them had ensnared a pseudo-rabbit. He cleaned the creature and was on his way back to the ruins to enjoy lunch when he felt the ground shake. He thought it was an earthquake until he heard the throaty boom of an explosion. Fear gripped him as he thought about Isabelle alone with that Lilith thing. Another smaller explosion echoed the first in the opposite direction of the ruins and he sighed in relief.
He climbed a tree to see if he could get a good vantage point and find out where the blasts were coming from. As he climbed he wondered if Is would be impressed by his monkey-like agility, probably not. He reached as high as he was comfortable with climbing and off in the distance a plume of dark smoke rose into the sky. He wished he had Isabelle's scope right now, but she would have it with her when she went into to cave. He briefly thought about going back to the ruins and bringing her with him, but he quickly tossed the idea away. Scouting alone is what he did best. Besides she was opening her door and he knew better than to take that from her. Besides, this could be a wild goose chase. He half slid, half climbed down the tree and made his way towards the smoke.
Now what? Isabelle thought as she found the first metal door still closed and Lilith nowhere in sight. She thought about back tracking and searching the other passages, but then remembered the doors unfortunate tendency to slam shut. The poor creature was probably trapped on the other side of the door. She propped up her rifle on the side and slid the door open with a heavy creek. A bright white light spilled from the metal room and she blinked at the sudden intensity of it. Instinctively she swung herself behind the door, muscles tightening waiting for any threat. A whooshing sound like a fan from the ceiling filled the space and pushed icy air around her. After a few heartbeats she peered cautiously around the door. The metal room was empty, but the door on the other side appeared to be cracked open. Isabelle wedged a rock in between the door and the frame to secure it from closing. She readied her weapon and carefully made her way to the now open second door. She was curious to see what other mischief Lilith was up to, besides finding electricity in an ancient temple.
A quick glance at the floor and ceiling told her that the light was coming from the floor and the sound was indeed coming from a fan in the ceiling. Isabelle pushed the other door with her foot and it swung, grinding on its hinges, open.
The room beyond was dark. No, not dark, just dimmer than the room she left and a lot colder. She amended in her head as her eyes adjusted. An eerie red glow from a track of lights led to where Lilith stood ram rod straight next to a rectangular stone slab and slightly shaking. Isabelle glanced over to where Lilith eyes were locked to and did a double take once her brain registered what her eyes saw. Rows and rows of large icy cylinders with blinking lights clung to successive ledges like an amphitheater.
A rumble shook the edges of the room causing dirt to fall to the ground and startled both of the women. Isabelle raised the rifle she had unconsciously lowered up her shoulder turned to get a better look at the rest of the room, wondering what just happened. Lilith let out startled sound and pushed past Isabelle as she ran in fear to the door. Knocked off balance slightly, Isabelle was slow to follow the larger woman. She stepped into the small white metal room just as Lilith pushed through the outer door and Isabelle saw the bracing rock spring free of the door frame.
"Wait!" She yelled and ran to keep the door from closing. Her hand touched the door just as it latched closed. She looked up as the noise from the above fan changed pitched indicating it was slowing. She looked down as the lights in the floor began to fade. In the freezing, now pitch black, alien room Isabelle mumbled "Fuck."
"Fuck." Royce hissed in surprise. A burning path of destruction cut into the forest leading to what he thought looked a lot like the wreckage of a hunter ship. Of course, he only caught a glimpse of one before he turned around for Isabelle and it blew up. This one wasn't in much better shape than the one he saw, he noted as he kept to the tree line and slowly made his way towards the bulk of the wreckage. The infrared of the mask he wore made it hard to see past the fires that scattered the area, but he was loathed to remove it and break camouflage. At least until he was sure there were no survivors around.
The light from the star this plant circled was beginning to wane as it was covered by another planet. He knew from experience that he would only have a few hours tops until it was completely dark. Being out in this wilderness at night again was not an experience he was hoping to repeat. There were beasts that came out only at night. Although, he didn't see any directly while he was making his way to and from the mining station he heard them and he didn't want to know what something that could make those noises looked like. Beside, eating mutant rabbit meat by a fire, washing off the sweat that trickled down his back and barrying his face in the crazy mane of a small deadly female was infinitely better than trying to shift through debris at night.
He made one slow wide circle of the burning wreckage. When he saw no movement besides the scattered fires and the naturally shifting of debris he decided to call it a night. He hoped could find something useful that could get them home in the morning, he turned to leave the area. A quick red flash hit his peripheral that was too well defined to be a random flare of fire. He crouched quickly, his back to a nearby tree and raised his weapon. He waited for a moment and then waited more. Just when he was beginning to think he was seeing things, he saw the infrared hue of something crawl its way to the wreckage.
Royce could discern its bipedal form as the creature stood up. He silently cursed the masks inability see in anything but obtuse infrared as he studied the figure as it studied the wreckage. The figure was too small to be a hunter, unless they had even smaller versions. There were no wings arcing from the back, so he determined it wasn't Lilith and it was too big to be Isabelle. Part of him said to shoot first ask questions later, another part told him to just walk away and still another, that irritatingly had a female voice with an accent, told him to wait and see. He decided to find out what it was then leave. He could always shoot it later.
He silently pulled further into the darkness of the underbrush. He made sure he was up wind and pushed up the mask. The cloak crackled off and the creature spun towards the soft noise. The movement brought it into the firelight and Royce was surprised to see the face of a man. Royce held his breath and stilled his movements as the man scanned the area with his eyes. The man turned back to the rubble and Royce breathed again.
The man was average height and average build. His hair was long and shagging down into his face where it joined a long ZZ Top beard. His clothes consisted of animal hides and his feet were bare. Royce half expected the man to limp up to him whisper "It's" in his face and have the Monty Python theme suddenly blare out of nowhere.
Royce thought about making his presence known, but wasn't too excited to explain who he was or to bring back another survivor to the ruins. He thought Isabelle would be better at a meet and greet anyway. He'd drag her out here in the morning and if the dude was gone they'd track him down and ask him a few questions. Royce halted his thought process as the man slid stealthy into shadows.
Royce pushed the mask down on his face in time to see a red blob flying down to him. He fell to his back and jerked his weapon up in time to defect a rock that would have smashed in his skull. Royce's wind was knocked out of him as the weight of the man landed on his mid section and large hands attempted to choke the life out of him. He countered with a few well placed jabs to the man's kidneys. In the short wrestling matched that followed Royce's mask fell off and he could clearly see the man's wild eyes for the first time. A quick thrust of the butt of his weapon to the man's face ended the match. Royce stood up from the wet ground, breathing hard and looked down at the unconscious body before him.
There was no intelligence in the man's eyes, at least not the human kind. His eyes were as wild and feral; if there was a man behind them, it was buried deep. There was no way he was bringing Isabelle anywhere near this animal. Besides he doubted this guy would even be able to understand an asked question, let alone answer it. Royce slipped the mask back on his face and imitated the cloak. He walked away, unsure if it was the best idea to leave a man that was ready to kill him alive, but unwilling to kill the defenseless man on the ground. He wondered when that had ever been a problem for him before.
After giving up on forcing the closed door open, Isabelle switched on the light Royce had given her and entered the larger room. She hoped to find a back door or at least something she could wrap around herself. It was freezing in here. The beam of light hit a dusty white stone floor as she awkwardly held it and her rifle. A few paces from the door was a rectangle of stone that reach almost to her shoulders. It reminded her of a tall breakfast nook. The top was flat, bare and dusty. She shrugged her shoulders at the oddity and continued her search. She brought the light back up to the cylinders and saw that not all of the power of the place was out. Lights on a panels of most of the cylinders still blinked on and off faintly.
She walked slowly to the closest cylinder, feeling like character in an American horror movie. She had been guilty of thinking the character walking into an obvious trap was an idiot a time or two. She took a breath and decided to complete the cliché. She reached up and touched the cylinder with fingers of her cast laden arm. Her fingers met cold condensation on a glass surface. She juggled the light and rifle to the other arm and wiped the condensation away with her good hand. The murky outline of a face greeted her and she stepped back in surprise.
What was it about his place and dead bodies? She thought, just as the dead body twitched.
"Filho da punta!" She flinched backward in surprise and raised her rifle to the face behind the glass. She willed her pounding heart to slow as she waited to see what the thing in the tube would do. After a few tense moments of no movement she lowered her weapon, whatever had caused the thing to twitch had stopped. She inspected the cylinder better and saw tubes branching off the top reach up into the darkness the light did not penetrate. A thick layer of dust and dirt covered the canister. Another tube coming from the bottom of the tube ran in to the stone floor. A crack on the side it allowed a clear fluid to trickled out and down to the floor. She could see no seem and no way to open the cylinder, not that she wanted to. The condensation covered the glass, obscuring the face. She did not wipe the surface again.
She stepped back and shined the light down the rows of canisters. She followed the line they made and noted various states of atrophy in the machinery. Some of the canisters had fallen to the side resting on their neighbor, while others had fallen head first to the ground. Many of the light panels were dark and other panels flicked on and off seemingly at random. The long line of canisters seemed to go on forever as she continued to walk shivering past them.
After what felt like hours of walking her light reflected back on circular stone structure in the middle of her path. She stared at the mason construction for a second, cold numbing her brain, before it clicked. The dimensions seemed to be right for her fishing pool, or at least one of the lower pools. Tubes jutted out from the side and ran up to the darkened roof. Had she been fishing in frozen people juice all this time? It was not a comforting thought. A shiver ran up her spine and her teeth chattered together. Her light dimmed indicating it was time to turn around. A quick glance around the structure showed more canisters. She turned away from the mystery underground silo and made her way with the dying light back to the entrance.
Feeling relatively secure, she shoved her hands under her armpits to warm them while haphazardly maintaining control of the light and rifle. She puzzled over the purpose of the building. What were these things behind the glass? They had faces, but she couldn't tell if they were humanoid or not. Were they dead or in a kind of stasis? What did Lilith have to do with it? Maybe Royce would have a few ideas. Which lead her into another round of question regarding just him. Mercifully she came to the entrance and had to change mental gears long enough to figure out how to not freeze to death.
He options were limited, to say the least. She tugged the door to the strange room until it was almost closed hoping to keep out most of the cold. She gave the cave door a few futile pushes before sighing in defeat. She set her rifle down next to the closed door and wondered how long it would take Royce to figure out where she was. He managed to find her when she was whisked away by a flying she creature, after she fell down the side of a mountain. This should be a piece of cake. Her broken arm ached from the cold and her fingers were going numb. She fingered the Quick-clot she still kept in her pocket. She knew it cauterized wounds, but she suspected it was a chemical cauterization not a heat induced one. She was tempted to pop it open here on the floor if it meant warmth for a few seconds, though.
She sighed and slid down the door. She smiled knowing the first thing Royce would see when he finally got there would be her tumbling at his feet. The light flickered and she saw the stain of blood on the wall next to her. She shut off the light and wound her arms into her shirt for a little bit of protection and warmth it offered. She wondered sleepily if it had been this way for the mummified cowboy she found a week earlier. Did he give up early or did he sit in this room and wait for someone who would not come to open the door? She liked to think he didn't give up hope even as he tucked the picture he could barely see of his loved one into his pocket and heaved the rifle up to his head. She turned off the light and pondered over her and the cowboy's similar fate. Would her own numb fingers be strong enough to pull the trigger in lieu of starvation? Royce was a smart man, he would figure out where she was before that became an issue thankfully. Once again, she felt sorry for the dead man. He had no Royce somewhere outside, just a picture and a rifle. He had to face death alone here with little hope of survival. A shiver ran through her and she tucked her legs in closer to her body.
She thought about Royce and her earlier realization. She almost blurted out "I love you" before he cut her off and ran. It was probably a good thing he did that. He wasn't the 'declare undying love' type. She could almost imagine the look of panic in his face before he schooled his feature and told her he wasn't that kind of man. Blurting out how she felt was out, she'd just have to show him until he was ready to hear it or maybe just until she was ready to say it. She smiled and laid her head down on her knees. She was such a coward. Her eyes drooped closed. Shit, she was tired.
Shit, he was tired. He thought as he walked to the entrance of the ruins and a yawn escaped. He stopped dead in his tracks and raised his weapon. Sticks scattered the entrance to the wide open rock door. The alarm had been sprung. He ran up to the side of the opening and slammed his back to the rock face. A quick duck and scan of the antechamber told him it was dark inside and nothing else.
"IS?" He yelled in, still keeping his back to the outside wall. His own voice echoed back to him and silence followed. The hope that she had accidentally set off the trap and had not reset it yet ebbed away as the silence lengthened. He took in a fortifying breath and pushed inside the building, ready for another fight. Silence and a faint glow flowing from the smaller room greeted him. He pushed himself against the wall and edged his way along the wall towards the light. The two torches that Isabelle usually kept lit were burnt out. Another tactical glance into the room also came up empty. He swung into the empty room and crinkled his brow in confusion. The fire in the hearth was down to embers and there were no signs of a struggle or any other indication that anyone had been in here for hours. He stirred the embers, put on a few more logs and lit up another torch. He swung weapon to his back and walked back into the main room.
He stood and surveyed the room with torch in hand for a moment. He walked to the door and saw his own steps in the mud outside, two claw prints of Lilith and a day old set of Isabelle's. He squatted down and suspiciously inspected Lilith's prints closer. She left in a hurry, almost immediately lifting into the air as soon as she was clear of the door. The prints where too light for her to be carrying anything and an image of the she-creature carting off an unwilling Isabelle vanished as soon as it came. Unless Isabelle felt the strange need to cover her tracks, she didn't leave the ruins today. He walked to the pool and splashed water on his face. He jerked his head up as he suddenly remembered her saying something about a man being trapped in a room.
"Shit." He mumbled as he wiped the water from his eyes. He jogged down to the cave entrance, torch in hand. He easily followed the trail of shells until he came to the closed metal door. Dropping the torch on the ground, he unlatched and opened the door with a grunt. A small body fell to the ground at his feet, followed by his stomach. He dropped down to his knees in front of her and grabbed the edges of the door frame as the heavy door slammed him in the back. Fuckin door. He pushed it back and brought his free hand to her head, almost afraid to touch her.
"Is?"
She heard her name off in the distance. The cold was everywhere and she just wanted to sleep, but she felt warm hands on her face and neck. Confused, she looked up and saw the concerned face of Royce.
"Wh..wh..where hhhhave you bbbeen?" Her teeth chattered and she tried to smile to hide it, but she didn't think she succeeded. Still, Royce smiled back at her so it must not have been too bad.
"Sorry. I've been busy. How 'bout we get you out of the fridge?"
She nodded her head and cringed as the pins and needles started stabbing her arms and legs, as she tried to unwind herself. Royce, mindful of the pain she displayed, shoved the torch in her numb hands.
"Do you think you can carry this?"
She didn't think she could, but nodded anyway. Her numb achy fingers gripped the torch as he slid his arms under her and easily lifted her into his arms. He turned to begin the long walk back to the front of the ruins.
"Rifffle." She said before turning her head and buried her freezing nose into the opening of his vest. He sucked in a surprised breath at the sudden cold on his chest and spotted her rifle inside the small metal room.
"I'll come back for it. You know, you don't have to half freeze to death if you want me to carry you somewhere. Just ask next time, I'll be glad to oblige." He said to her as he walked away. He felt her chuckle in his arms.
"I'll keep tttthat in mmmind."
The door behind them slammed shut.
He brought her to the small room in front of the ruins, stood her in front of the fire and began to unceremoniously remove her clothes.
"I tttthink I'm ttto cold for ttthis rightt now." She stuttered. He smirked, focusing on removing her frosty outerwear. Her sense of humor seemed to be intact, that was good.
"Here. Sit down." He guided her to a piece of hide on the floor and she immediately balled up. He grabbed more hides that littered the room and covered her with them.
Isabelle watched shivering as he coaxed the dying fire alive. Satisfied the fire was warm enough he sat down in front of her, fished out one of her feet and began to massage warmth back into it. She had buried herself into the furs until just her face shone from underneath. She looked cute and instead of commenting on it he said.
"I snagged one of those huge rabbit things today, so dinner's covered."
"I'm sorry." She said quietly, happy there was only a small amount of teeth chatter that time.
He looked up at her confused. "Sorry for what?"
"Well for being a burden, I guess. I think this makes about the sixth or seventh time you've saved my life. Have I said thank you for that?" She said honestly, biting back the half-pain half-pleasure moan that wanted to come out as his warm hand massaged blood back into her foot.
He shrugged and looked back down at her warming foot. "Don't worry about it. We're even."
The furs shifted as she shook her head. "We are nowhere close to being even."
He put her now warmed foot under the furs and fished out the other for the same treatment. "Trust me we're even." He said and looked up in time to see her face scrunch up.
"I.." She began.
"Something crashed in the forest." He interrupted.
She forgot what she was going to say and sat up a little straighter, careful not to let her foot slide out of his hands.
"What crashed? Was that the tremor I felt earlier? What did you see?"
He smirked a little at her excited questions and told her about what had happened today. He put her other foot away at the end of his story.
"You've had a busy day, haven't you?" She blinked.
"Yup." He said, bringing out her cast laden arm.
"So you just let this man go after he attacked you?"
"Yeah. The thing is.." He stopped.
"What?" She encouraged.
"Any kind of human thought or emotion was gone from this guy. He is in complete animal survival mode now." He kept his eyes on her hand. "And that's why we're even."
"I don't follow." She said wanting to be sure she heard right. He blew hot air on her free fingers and she curled them around his.
"Well I figure if you weren't around I'd either be talking to myself or stalking around like a bear. Either way, I may have saved your life a few times, but you save my sanity every day."
Unbidden tears welled up in her eyes. "That may be the nicest thing anyone has said to me."
He looked up at her statement. "That's the nicest th...?" He broke off and shook his head. He wove her hand back under the furs and stood up. "I'm gonna cook the rabbit thing and reset the alarm. I expect you to be nice and warm when I get back and you can tell me how you got stuck back there. Alright?" He said, looking down at her.
"Yes, sir." She smirked at him.
He nodded and paused at the door to look back at the fur encompassed Isabelle, before shaking his head again and leaving.
He came back an hour later to find her by the fire still snuggled in the furs asleep. He let her sleep for awhile while he cooked the meat in the fire.
"He cooks too? I'm doomed." He heard her sleepy timbre behind him and smiled.
"It's still gonna be a few minutes. So...How was your day?" He sat next to her as she pushed herself up and told him about the containers.
"We both had busy days." He handed her a piece of meat and they ate in silence for awhile.
"Bedtime?" She looked over at him sideways when he yawned.
"Past." He said simply, staring into the fire.
"Well I think I'm going to bunk down here next to the fire." She said tossing a bone into the fire and snuggled back down again.
"Still cold?"
"Pieces of me."
He grunted and dragged his weapon closer before lying down behind her. She turned her head in profile to him.
"You don't have to stay down here. I'm sure it's much more comfortable in the hammock."
"Is?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up." He said and put an arm around her waist.
"You're such a romantic." She smiled and turned back to the fire. She felt his chuckle on her back. Oh, yeah. No doubt at all she was in love. She laid there suddenly wide awake, contemplating the events of the day
"Why are you still awake?" Royce grumbled after a while.
"Tell me about your house again?" She whispered back to him, unsure why or where the question came from.
"Why?"
She shrugged. "I just want to know."
"There's not much to tell."
"Impossible man."
He sighed and for a second she thought he would refuse.
"There's a huge old oak tree out front I use to climb as a kid." He began. "It's got a tire swing on it. There's a garden out back where my mother would plant some vegetables. Dad built a swing for her so she had a place to sit and look at it."
She turned and faced him.
"He loved her." She stated simply.
"Too much." He said with sadness in his eyes. "Can we sleep now?"
"Not yet." She let her fingers trail down his cheek and kissed him.
She tasted his mouth much like she did that first time in the forest, like she was savoring it. He decided he could kiss this woman forever. She pulled back and he saw a familiar sparkle in her eyes. She pushed him to his back and she straddled his waist. He put his hands on her thighs and looked up at her a smile tugging on his lips.
She leaned down to him, her breath on his chin. "Tell me more."
"I think I remember this game."
She smiled in reply and waited expectantly.
"There's a small grocery store nearby I walk to in the spring." He began and she placed her first kiss on his neck.
"It gets hot in the summer and..." He trailed off as her lips made their way down his chest. She paused and looked up at him, raising an eyebrow at the lag in his story. "Um.. I usually jump into the lake to cool off."
She made her way down and thoroughly enjoyed the way his abs twitched on her tongue. She looked up again when she felt his hand on her head. His eyes were closed.
"No touching." She nodded his hand gently away.
He looked down at her sharply. "New rules?"
"New game."
Her eyes were dark and he did something he hadn't done in a while, he trusted someone. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes again. "I think I like your games."
"Keep going." She smirked.
"San Antonio is nearby and...Shit." He lost his train of thought when she got on her knees between his legs and pulled his boxer briefs off.
"And?" She prompted, rubbing her fingers on his bare thighs. And? And what? What was he talking about? Oh, right. "We'll go to the river walk and you can see the leaves turn in the fall. The cottage gets drafty in the winter so we'll... oh God." He moaned as she licked him once from root to tip.
"We'll drink hot cocoa as we lounge in bed." She finished, easily envisioning the scene.
"Yeah." He swallowed. Then there was no more talking as she took him fully in her mouth. He writhed when she cupped his balls and he panted loudly when her tongue circled under his head. He tried to slow down and enjoy it. He tried to memorize every swirl of her tongue, every graze of her teeth and he managed it for awhile until he felt her lay her palm on his chest over his heart. He called out a warning to her, but she just increased the pressure and he exploded.
He swallowed hard and looked down at her with hot eyes. She licked her lips and sat back on her knees. He never wanted to touch someone so bad in his life, but he remembered her rules.
She was throbbing and aching for him now that she had tasted him. She looked down and saw watched his fist clench and unclench at his sides.
"What?" She asked hesitantly. Had she done something wrong?
"Can I touch now?"
"Yes." Was that the problem? She didn't have time to contemplate it as he swiftly sat up and took her mouth. With one hand in her hair and one on her waist he twisted them until she lay beneath him on the furs. He broke away and brought her arms over her head.
"Wanna play a game?" He smirked over her.
"What do you want me to talk about?" She smirked back, lacing her fingers behind her head.
"I don't want you to talk about anything. I want you to moan." He explored her body with his mouth and she did more than just moan. She sighed as his lips latched on to a breast and giggled when his hand ghosted over a ticklish spot on her side. That had earned her a full toothed smile from him. She felt self conscious as he lowered, but forgot about it when he placed a single open mouthed kiss on the scar on her leg. Then she forgot about her own rules and held his head right where she needed him to be, after a single slow lick up her center. Afterward, as he crawled back up her and pulled the furs around them she said. "You may be the death of me, ahuvi."
"There's that word again. I hope it means something good."
"It does to me."
Outside, strange monsters roamed the night looking for prey, steering clear of the dying fires from a crash. A wild man crawled into his dark and foul smelling hole under a tree and nursed his broken face. Lilith looked up from her perch and saw a familiar dreaded light float silently to the ground. It was unusually early but it seemed that a hunt would begin again soon. Inside, two humans slept to the crackle of a fire, warm, safe and tangled in each other.