6 - The Adopted Family
Foreseeing a great deal of drama in the next few hours I headed to the island for a shower and a quick change of clothes. This had become a common occurrence as of late, my life had started to resemble that of a chameleon, the constant flux of altering my appearance would have discomposed a younger man. Fortunately my next disguise was familiar, it was a role I had played for over thirty years - that of a father. I loosened some of the stranglehold I had on my temper, my next character was Vologhi and they were not known for their even temperament. As I put on the layers of rough fabric I went though my list of words, gestures and motivations that would allow me to "become" my next role. The smooth blade that normally resided in my boot was replaced by a much heavier one, this was more barbed so it would do maximum damage. My attitude would need to change as well, the cocky and amused biker was replaced by a grouchy old man.
Among humans our true personalities were never allowed to surface, the centuries of living made us deep and dark as an ocean. The poor vision of mortals would allow them to penetrate a very shallow portion of our minds, they would never be allowed to see the hundreds of meters churched below that placid surface. Occasionally to save our own sanities and to add some authenticity to our lies we would let small piece of our true selves bubble up to the top - lies were always more believable when there was a smidgen of fact weaved amongst the fabrications.
The island was our sanctuary, it was a place where we could shed all the masks, where we could afford to relax our constant vigilance. The island was an oasis where the duties and responsibilities of a guardian could be forgotten - away from this retreat we continually measured our every gesture and word. This constant did take its toll, sometimes we would get into our characters so deeply that it took weeks if not moths to come back to ourselves. This was the cost of living among humans undetected, the alternative was for them to know the truth which would inevitably lead to fear and violence. Fortunately our assignments lasted thirty or forty years, this meant we did not switch roles too often and with the added luxury of stepping our of time we were able to take breaks between assignments.
Time was not on my side now, an unplanned visit to see my son could cause problems if I did not make it quick; normally when family was on a planet together we tended to stay on the same time schedule. It would have been rude to disrupt Tiffany and Angus in the south just because Aodh kept throwing visions in my direction. Normally when I went to see my son I would spend a week or two with him and then jump a week ahead in time when I went back to Earth. I could not do that during this visit, first and foremost I needed to be around Leah. No one, not even my son was more important than her well being. She needed a friend right now and I was not about to disappear on her for an extended amount of time. If I was going to be honest with myself I was counting down the hours until the next time I could "accidentally" bump into her again.
The stale room I jumped into was empty of all life but my own, Aurora had scanned to confirm that this building was vacant before my entrance but it was always best to double check, an excess of caution regarding appearances had kept the family secrets hidden for millennia.
"Aurora, scan for human life," I spoke quietly, not wanting to be overheard in case someone else was here with me. I used my own senses to test my surroundings while waiting for the results of her seconds scan.
A generous layer of dust coated every surface of the room, but that was to be expected since most people did not expend a great deal of energy cleaning their attics. This was not technically a living space, the three bedrooms below me were more than enough for one man, this area had been used for nothing more than storage. Boxes filled with what once was considered too precious to throw away were pushed up against the unfinished walls nearly touching the exposed beams of the roof. Closer to the middle of the room stood an old table with only three legs, despite my phenomenal memory I could not recall why that thing was put up here instead of into the trash where it belonged. Next to that was an electronic device that my son had gutted during one of his experiments when he was around sixteen, old boots that I was pretty sure had several holes in their soles, as well as some broken toys. These formally treasured items now sat forgotten as time slowly worked them into nonexistence. Seeing such signs of decay always reminded me of the dualism of immortality, it was both a gift and a curse. Most of the time I was able to sit back and watch in contempt as the mortals scurried about doing nothing, it was amazing how many of them squandered the handful of decades they were given on useless pursuits. Infrequently I was shocked by the loss and the swiftness of the passage of time - something would hold my interest but all too soon it would be consumed by the indiscriminate jaws of time.
One box had a fist sized jagged hole in the side, old clothing spilled from within; an industrious creature had build some sort of nest inside. I really hoped they were no longer around because in my current mood their eviction might be a very bloody affair.
One benefit of the fine grey powder that coated everything was that anyone walking around would leave a set of footprints, only a single set was present and it was my own from my last visit. Confirming Aurora's initial scans about the emptiness of this room I reached further out. My senses might not be as well developed as that of a werewolf but they were acute enough to verify that I was alone in the house. This was not a surprise, my son had moved out over twenty years ago when he had gone off to further his education. No one lived here but the prickly old man that had once been a healer but had given up that career about five years ago in order to travel the planet for the remaining few years of his life. He was not all that old, only sixty five or so but this was a harsh world that would eventually break even the strongest of individuals.
On this planet it was imperative that you did not appear too weak or old, otherwise people would "help" you move onto the other side so that you could enjoy the eternal banquet that was the reward of every good Vologhi.
Someone would be in for a very unpleasant surprise if they tried to "help" the old man that occupied this home, he did not really exist instead it was just my current role - I was not yet ready to move on and would be forced to kill the person who saw through the disguise of the old man. Soon I would stage my death probably in some glorious suicide, for the humans on Earth suicide was a no-no but here it was embraced as a part of life. Some men spent their entire retirement trying to come up with an elaborate way to die, it was very sad when they had the heart attack at the dinner table instead. If you could die in a really awesome and dangerous way it would boost the honor of your family name and could potentially open doors for your descendants. Dying in your bed of old age was not the way you wanted to leave this world.
"Maybe a fight with a Gudag," these were some of the fiercest beasts that roamed this planet. "It would be even better if I actually killed it, and then died of the wounds." Unfortunately it would have looked suspicious if a man in his sixties killed the eight foot tall creature. It would not be that much of a challenge for me, but as far as everyone here was concerned I was nothing more than an old healer - only the strongest of warriors went after such creatures.
My footsteps kicked up a cloud of dust as I headed for the trap door in the center of the room that was the only way down into the house. The dust tickling my nose was starting to be unpleasant, maybe it was time to clean out this place - but not today, now I had to go check out what Aodh was trying to show me. Hopefully I could wrap this up in a few hours, already this nervous feeling was starting to build up in my chest. Being away from Leah was a lot harder than I had anticipated, having known her only for a week of my two thousand years it should not have been this hard to leave her. I just wanted to know how she was, and if she was doing all right.
Had she been able to rid herself of that pesky boy? or had he remained to cause more trouble for her? It had been a little over an hour ago that I had left her on the front porch of her mother's house, was it possible that I overestimated her abilities? She might have been a werewolf but she was also extremely young and in an emotionally vulnerable state that would make her an easy target. This feeling of weakness was new for me, while Phila and I had been in some precarious situations this fear was different. Phila was a highly trained guardian who was both cunning, ruthless and strong with centuries of training. I had never before cared about anyone outside of my family, Leah was not like them, she was not trained to deal with any situation. Leah was exposed to the world, with absolutely no training and expected by her tribe to fend off attacks from other supernatural creatures. The small pack of wolves were not prepared to fight off a true threat, the Volturi would make kibble bits out of them in a battle. The mere though of what was coming for Leah in December made me nearly break out in hives. I was practically wringing my hands with worry, for a moment I wanted to reach back and kick my own ass. How had I become this pathetic? I was glad my brother Myles was not here, he would have ripped off my balls because apparently I no longer needed them.
I needed to pull myself together, being this distracted would get me seriously hurt or killed in this town. I stopped for a moment and closed my eyes, immediately Aodh showed me a picture of Leah smiling. "You are not helping you bastard," I told it under my breath, "anyway it is your fault we are here and not with her." It was a futile effort, Aodh never replied and usually just kept on throwing the same image in my direction until I fulfilled its request. Ignoring the pretty smile on the backs of my eyelids took all of my skills, but it was necessary in order to make this trip as short as possible.
Not bothering to get into character as of yet I soundlessly dropped down into the upstairs hallway. Several coats of paint had been added to the wall over the years along with an increasing number of pictures of my son from the age of four on up. He had always been a runt, the only thing that prevented him from being killed by the other kids was his determination; that and the fact that for some reason the local kids were scared shitless of me. I could not imagine why they acted this way. It had nothing to do with the one time I picked up the strongest one of the bunch and described to him how easily it was to skin a person alive. Over thirty years later that kid still gave me a wide berth whenever he saw me in the street, my message must have been clearly understood but then I had allowed him to see the predator that lurked under the veneer of a healer trying to raise a poor orphaned boy.
The entire house was dimly lit by the meager amounts of daylight coming through the small windows, my preference would have been for lager windows but a wall of nothing but glass was unheard of in these parts. So I had to make due with lots of artificial light, not altogether pleasant but it was necessary for fitting in. In the end everything came down to that, keeping the secret at any expense - and yeah most of the time it sucked.
The wall of windows would not have helped much, this planet was relatively young and the tectonic plates had not settled as much as Earth, this translated into a great deal of earthquakes and volcanic activity. It would behoove me to have Aurora check the structural integrity of the house, even the smaller earthquakes would eventually take their toll on the brick and mortar, this vital upkeep was not going to happen today. Heading down the stair I started to move like the old man I was supposed to be, my steps more cautious, my back not as straight. The old back door had a walking stick next to it, a retirement gift from my son. It was a gag gift, he liked to joke that even in my old age I could still take him down. I ignored the prop, instead throwing open the bolts before opening the creaking door.
It would not do to linger long in this abandoned home, I had a grandson to check on as well as a mate to get back to. The air outside was filled with the strong scent of brimstone and ash, it seemed one of the volcanos had erupted again. The large raindrops left a stinging trail as they hit my face, all the ash that the volcanoes dumped into the atmosphere made acid rain a common occurrence around these parts. I lifted the collar of my coat and pulled my hat a little further down as I walked down the street at a brisk pace, my large stride eating up the distance to my son's home. I had bought him this house as a wedding present, newly wedded couples needed their space - it would not have been good for their marriage to have a grouchy old man puttering around their house while they were trying to have sex on every flat surface. Or at least that is what I told my son when he thanked me for the gift. The house itself was well built and due to its location slightly outside of the town it had more land and therefore afforded a great deal more privacy. The previous owner had left it in poor repair but the amount of land involved had made the property worth the purchasing price.
The proximity of the house to my own home was merely coincidence, it had nothing to do with the fact that I did not think him capable of taking care of himself. So if for the first two years I went on a great many walks whose path took me by his house it had nothing to do with me wanting to check on him; though while I was in the neighborhood it did not hurt to walk up his driveway to see how my son and his wife were doing.
It did not take me long to reach my son's property, the sound of pounding was the first sign that something was not altogether right, the staccato noise was coming from one of the side buildings. My son called it his workshop but it was mainly used to store old and broken tools. Walking around the slightly leaning building I located the reason for the noise.
The small abused ball being kicked against the wall is what had caused the sound that had garnered my attention. It was the exact picture Aodh had shown me few hours ago.
"Kiriki," I called out to the abuser. Either my grandson was choosing to ignore me or he was concentrating too hard on his current task to have heard my approach. I was going to go with the latter, he was kicking that ball with far too much vehemence. The rage pouring out of that small body was concerning, while he tended to be far too serious for a boy who had not even seen ten summers, usually he was much more careful with his possessions.
'Kiriki," I repeated the nickname, "what is the matter?"
He jumped a little at the sound of my voice, he missed the kick and the ball disappeared into the thick foliage. "Nothing," he told me after a few moments, not bothering to turn around and greet me. This must have been the reason Aodh was showing me the visions, usually Kiriki greeted me with a great deal more enthusiasm. I waited for him to retrieve his ball before trying to start up a conversation.
"I brought you something," I told him while digging through my pockets for the sweets. If you wanted the distinction of being the favorite grandfather you never showed up without some form of bribe. I had held the title of the greatest grandfather for several years now, it also helped to outlive your competition.
The crinkle of the candy wrapper caught his attention and he finally turned towards my direction. His face was a little dusty but so were his clothes, I was willing to bet his school uniform had not been as messy when he had dressed this morning. He eyed the candy with a great deal of speculation. The little brat was planning to make a grab for the candy, too bad his grandfather still had great reflexes.
"You never told me what was the matter," I held the treat just out of reach as he attempted to jump for it. "Oh and I want my hug."
"Hugs are for babies, and I am not a baby." He told me with a sneer twisting his face.
"Well I am too old and I only have a limited number of hugs left," I told him while opening my arms. It took him a few seconds to look away from the candy before he jumped into my arms. I hugged his small body next to mine, not caring that he was getting my own clothes dirty - it was a small price to pay. There was something so pure about such and innocent embrace, like a newborn kitten - all sorts of potential, not yet corrupted by the trials of life.
"You are not too old, Tata." His voice was muffled against my chest. "You will live forever and never die."
The comment caught me unawares and I was unable to prevent my body from stiffening in response. Out of the mouths of babes, little did he know how true his words actually were. One day, not so far in the future I would get to feel the pain of burying Kiriki - hopefully it would be many decades before that would happen but the lives of mortals at times lasted less than a blink in comparison to my kind. I would not feel the severe loss of a grandson for that was beyond my capabilities in his case, but people still grieved when they lost a beloved pet. Quickly shoving those morbid thoughts into the back of my mind I tried to figure out what was going on here and now. I pulled away from him and kneeled down in order to look into his eyes.
"Now tell me what is wrong," my tone was clearly stating that I would not put up with any equivocating.
"Mother is sick, again." He mumbled slightly under his breath, his voice implied that the situation should be obvious.
"Well if your mother is sick why are you out here all by yourself? Where is your father?" I asked as softly as possible starting to suspect what the problem was, my daughter-in-law Grilka was generally one of the healthiest people I knew except for one glaring exception.
"Father is gone again, he is following another lead somewhere up north," so much resentment leaking out of such a small body was not a pleasant sight to behold.
The temptation to kick my son's ass was almost overwhelming, had he been here I would have probably done some damage to his worthless hide. Though there would be no need for violence if he was here taking care of the family he claimed to care about so much. I might not be capable of feeling the love of a father towards the boy but that did not mean I was going to neglect my duties as a parent.
"Hmm," I made the noncommittal sound while quickly assessing the situation. "How about we go inside and get something to eat, the long walk from my house has made me really hungry. I need you to cook something for me. Maybe afterwards if you are a good enough cook I will give you the candy." I caught one of his small hands and pulled him towards the house. My daughter-in-law, Grilka, and I were going to have a chat, very soon and I would be the one doing most of the chatting.
"What in the name of Kr'aks' gonads are your trying to do?" I was whisper shouting, beyond furious at the pale woman sitting down on the chair. Grilka looked like shit, and I knew exactly the reason for it. Her hands were weakly gripping the sides, trying to keep herself in a sitting position.
"There is no need to raise your voice, I just don't feel well right now." Grilka cringed in her chair, afraid that I would hit her. In this might makes right society it would have been within my rights to hurt her if she had displeased me. Despite her obvious fears I would never hurt a hair on her head, she had gained my protection when she had married my son but she did not need to know that.
"Not feeling well? Do I look to be in the mood to be considering your tender constitution?" I was practically roaring but it was all at a whisper. I had just spent the hour reading to Kiriki, this was after feeding and bathing him - he had only fallen into a restless sleep fifteen minutes ago. As much as I would have enjoyed bellowing at the foolish girl it was not worth waking up her son.
"You don't understand," she told me her skin sallow and wan. Even her dark skin was not enough to hide the circles under her eyes.
"I don't understand that you have been told by several healers that you cannot carry any more children? Not understand that despite of the fact that you have already lost three of them you continue down this ill-advised path?" Grilka wanted children, but her body would not carry them. The fact that she managed to give birth to Kiriki was a miracle in itself, she had not even managed to carry him to full term.
"You don't understand," she repeated her words, this time with a little more force. "I want children." She too was getting angry now, today was my day for arguing with women. Pushing Leah's buttons had been a turn-on, it made my heart pound and my chest nearly burst with pride as she verbally pushed back. Quarreling with Grilka yielded nothing but frustration, how hard was it to listen to my advice? My opinion was not one I shared often, wanting for my son Kalim to find his own way in the world, but as of late both he and Grilka had been so caught up in their own needs that they had neglected their duties to Kiriki.
"You have a child, and he spent most of the afternoon upset. His mother cannot find the time to give him food because she is too busy trying to make his replacement." The fact that I could not yell was making me even more aggravated.
"You know that is not true," her temper was giving her a little more strength. That was nice because yelling at someone who was already lying on the ground left a bad taste in my mouth.
"It does not matter what I think. What is more important is that your child, the one that you brought into this world believes that you are trying to replace him."
A look of regret crossed her face before it was replaced by anger, "you don't know anything about it. You never had a child of your own, but had to steal one."
I schooled my features into one of calm, arguing with the foolish woman would not help me get back to my Leah any faster. It was much easier to calm down when Leah was not around distracting me. Grilka had no idea how close she had come to the truth, but that was irrelevant. It was obvious that nothing I said would make her understand how foolhardy her pursuit of another child was, nor would she comprehend the damage her stubbornness would do to her family. What I needed from her was information, maybe my son would be able to talk sense into her, but for that to happen I would first need to locate him.
"Speaking of worthless children, where has my witless son run off to now?" My impatience at being away from Leah made me more abrupt than usual, under normal circumstances I had more patience. Today was not feeling all that charitable, my eagerness to return to see my mate was making it hard to fake the compassion required of a caring father-in-law.
"He went to Culate, a small village a few days travel north of here. There were rumors about an infection in the area and he wanted to look into it." She told me through gritted teeth.
"Take care of my grandson," I told her already halfway out the door. I caught a look of surprise on her face at my abrupt departure. She did not say anything out loud, but her thoughts were filled with curiosity. Wondering why a man my age was in such a hurry. I made a mental note to come back when I was not so pressed for time, it would be best to smooth things over before she became to suspicious.
Using the regional technology to reach Culate would have taken more time than I had so I jumped instead, to avert suspicion from what would have been a far too quick journey I went one day into the future. Aurora had located a thicket of a few trees and bushes for me to jump to, it was enough to disguise my arrival.
Culate was not large enough to be called a village, it comprised of a dozen or so mud huts and the obligatory brewery/pub. The local industry consisted of a little bit of farming and a great deal of mining. Digging for ore was hard business and a majority of miners did not last more than a couple of years before leaving to find less dangerous work. With the constantly shifting plates cave-ins were far too commonplace and many a miner was buried alive while searching for precious ore.
I walked down the main road swinging the walking stick I had picked up when I went back home, heading for the centerpiece of this bustling metropolis - the pub was the likeliest place to locate my son. Unless you were really good friends with the locals all outsiders would obtain lodging and information from the pub.
The sounds emanating from the scarred and warped door were not particularly welcoming but this was standard for a pub, drunken brawls were the norm and would include half the patrons in the places with good reputations. Some men went to the pub for the fights more so than the drinks, a good bar fight would have been invigorating at this time and it would have helped relieve some of this tension building up in my shoulders. I had sent a quick message to Phila inquiring about Leah but she had not replied as of yet, half my attention was focused on the small silver phone nestled in the pocked next to my heart. I was waiting for that small buzz to indicate a reply.
The door in front of me flew open as someone was forcibly expelled from the building, for a moment I was impressed that a person got so violent that the barkeep actually threw him out - but all to soon I realized that the only thing violent about the man was his ability to vomit. Quickly dodging the man crawling around on the ground I stepped inside before the barkeep could slam the door shut. Locating my son took about the same amount of time as it took for my eyes to adjust to the dim interior.
He stood out as one of the best dressed individuals in the place, a distinction you did not want to have unless you enjoyed people constantly trying to rob you. He might as well have put a stab me here sign on his back, I had taught him better. He was cradling a large home made mug full of what was probably the best this place had to offer, his eyes on the grimy window.
His dark hair was pulled into a thick ponytail at the nape of his neck, it was once as black as a raven's wing but now it had several silver hairs that were visible even in the dim light. He face was thinner than usual, the dark circles under his eyes were a matching set for the ones of his wife, they were not a good indication. I did not take any measure to muffle the sound of my steps yet I was still able to walk up behind him and pop one on the back of his head.
"Bam, you are dead," I told him by way of greeting before sitting down on the rickety chair on the other side of the table he occupied. He jumped at the sudden blow and managed to spill half of his drink. From the smell of things it was not that much of a loss.
He opened his mouth to say something, he did not look surprised at my presence, Grilka must have warned him about my potential appearance.
"What do you want?" A woman growled from beside me interrupting my son's greeting.
I turned to examine her, she was surprisingly clean considering her surrounding, my stomach growled as a reminder that it had been a while since we ate and the small meal I had shared with Kiriki was not good enough. "Who does the cooking?" I asked suddenly ravenous.
She appeared confused at the question and had to pause before answering, "I do." She crossed her arms, waiting for me to challenge her. "Stop staring at them old man," she told me.
I had been looking at her clean hands and nails, they just happened to be resting on her chest. Honestly her breasts held little interest, they were nothing compared to the small but perky... what the hell was I doing? I needed to focus and not keep thinking about my mate. "I will have some food, but only something you cooked." I gave her a smile, hoping that my dimples would make the process of obtaining my food faster.
"Do you want to eat? or just another drink?" she asked with a glance at my son, I was surprised to note that she did not offer to clean up the mess. Maybe she had realized a while back the keeping this pub clean was a Sisyphean task, hopefully her kitchens were closer in cleanliness to her hands.
"Another drink," my son gulped down the remainder of his ale before handing her the empty mug.
"Kalim, have you spoken to your wife lately?" I asked, his grimace confirming my earlier suspicions. "Well you also know that now would be a good time to start heading home."
"I was planning on it, there was just a really good lead here. Supposedly there were some infected killed in the area." His tone was a whine, but he kept his voice low. Dropping words like infected tended to make the natives panic, there was a good reason for this. If the word was mentioned enough times it would gander the attention of the hunters.
"Infected? Are you still on this foolish quest?" I asked with as much derision as I could muster. Appealing to his sense of logic had not worked in the past, neither had bringing up honor and what he owed to his family; I had nothing left but ridicule.
"There might be hunters here, I will find them." The gleam of his eyes reminded me of that of a zealot, nothing I could say would ever convince him not to continue his search. But I had to try, I had taken on the responsibility of being a parent to him and that is what I was going to do.
"You have not been able to locate them for the past twenty years, what makes you think you will find them now?" Crossing my fingers I hoped this would be another dead end.
"There were fresh kills, only a few days old." I could practically hear the excitement in his voice. "A man has agreed to meet me here and will lead me to the bodies."
"So what were you planning on doing once you found them?" I kept my voice full of ridicule. I did not want this foolish boy to find the so called hunters - they were in reality members of my family, if he were to attack them they might destroy him before they realized he was not infected. When the infection rates got too high sometimes it was best to kill first and ask questions after you set their corpse on fire. Though you could tell that you made a mistake because the non infected corpses stopped moving around once you cut off their heads. The nano machines that controlled the bodies continued to move them for a while after decapitation, the normal humans just lay there.
"I will make them tell me who murdered my parents and then I will find those bastards and gut them." His voice sounded ferocious, after thirty five years he still was determined to find the ones who had killed his parents.
He would never know the truth, that he had known their killer most of his life. His parents had been infected, I never knew why he had been spared that ghastly fate. I had found his parents easily enough, their minds screaming for relief from the torment of being infected. I had given them a swift death before noticing that the boy had been watching from behind a partially closed door.
A combination of loneliness and possibly guilt had forced me to break down and take in the child - guilt not over killing his parents but over the fact that I had massacred them without feeling guilty at all. I had been greedy and wanted that connection with another living creature, by the time I had ascertained that it was impossible for me to connect with someone outside of my family it had been too late to renege on my commitment. Kalim became my son, and logically he had the best that I could give him. His parents had been of a lower class and he had been elevated up in standing when I adopted him. Growing up he had available to him the best of everything, he never went hungry, he was always warm, and was given the best of educations. If I tended to be a little standoffish and aloof that could not be helped, a sense of responsibility rather than paternal affection made me look after him all those years. It was what still drove me to pay attention when Aodh showed me visions of Kalim and Kiriki.
I pulled myself together, Kalim needed another intervention. "Last time I checked the hunters were far better warriors than you, how exactly are you going to make them do anything. By letting them run you through with a blade?"
"I have been practicing for decades, I have the skills to take them down." He told me with determination. If stubbornness was a weapon Kalim could have ruled the world, unfortunately for him it would only get him killed.
There was no way to describe to him how poorly he would fare in a fight against a hunter at least not without revealing the source of my knowledge. An awkward silence developed between us as we stared each other down, his thoughts were filled with a sense of anticipation and excitement. He was convinced that this time would be different and he would finally locate the hunters.
Our lack of a conversation was interrupted by the appearance of my food, a combination of mushy grains and some sort of dried fruit. It looked clean enough and I was about to dig in when I saw Kalim stand up a little straighter. A person moving down the street had caught his attention, an older man with a surprisingly quick gait was coming in our direction, most of his face was covered by the brim of his hat but the snippet of leathery skin was a clue that he was one of the older residents of this area.
We both watched as he moved out of sight of the windows but Kalim did not relax, instead his head went towards the door, a look of expectation on his face. Less that a minute later the man came inside with an air of purpose, he pulled the knitted cap off of his head revealing sparse patches of white hair on his greasy head. The skin on the left side of his face was puckered and scarred, an old burn if I had to guess. The left eye was milky and glassy looking, making me suspect he was blind out of that eye. This man had been hard on his body, his gaunt and skeletal figure making me think he had not had a steady source of income for several years.
His gaze swiftly scanned the room before coming to rest on Kalim, I watched as both gave a small nod of acknowledgement before the old man started to head in our direction.
My spider senses started tingling, he was moving too gracefully for someone that old. The marks on his hands indicated a life in the mines, again not a life conducive to being this mobile. He should have been hunched over and broken, his joints should have been more stiff. As he weaved past the other patrons I did not look at him with the eyes of Kalim's father but rather those of a guardian.
I pushed my mind out, trying to pinpoint his thoughts in order to confirm my suspicions but there was nothing there. This was not impossible for a normal human, some people could naturally block us out but I was starting to suspect that he was not one of those rare individuals.
If my instincts were correct, Kalim was very close to finding a hunter. The only way for a man this old to move with such fluidity was because he was feeling no pain, the nanos attached to his peripheral nervous system would direct all his movements giving him far more grace than he would naturally have.
"Come...we...found...body...burnt," his words were slow and hesitant, almost like he was searching them out. After infection people took a hit to their speech quality, my guess was this man could not speak all that well before he was infected. While I was suspicious my duty forced me to make certain he was infected, so when my son stood to follow the man I reached for my walking stick in order to follow. I would be getting back to my mate a lot later than I had anticipated.
A/N: So what do people think of this new side to Phil? This is sort of a reflection of what Phil's interactions are with outsiders. I was attempting to highlight the difference between his treatment of Kalim and Leah. These next few months are about to be crazy time, so I am warning you updates for my stories will be few and far between. By the way thanks for everyone for putting me on alerts and favorites; it is very encouraging to see people are actually reading this story.
Inosolan: Sorry, no naked Phil in this chapter. Lol on the Sensitive pig, that sort of did describe Phil well.
MindEqualBlown: Phil's thoughts regarding Sam are slightly biased, plus it does not help that any time Sam goes around Leah the bullying and the fights begin. I am sort of thinking that if Leah ever starts a fight with someone Phil will make sure that she ends up the winner - that goes double for Sam. Promises of naked Phil later.
Princessx: There you go more Phil, like the name by the way :D.
Myoung228: I am considering doing some chapters of their future life but mainly I want to stick to things from Phil's point of view. It is kind of fun writing around an already established story; the challenge is to try to make it unique while staying within the limits of what Leah observed. I am still trying to think of the way Phil convinced Sue Clearwater to let him borrow her daughter for a while?
There you go, Phil and son bonding...all right not so much. As for The Edge with Seth and Sassy I am thinking about adding something really crazy so there is not much being added to that right now. Embry and Stephi's story might have to wait for a while, lol, if I ever do it.
Hgmsnoopy: Phil and patience don't always go hand in hand, but he is willing to do that if his Princess needs him to be patient. I am trying to go for what one of the reviewers aptly described as a 'sensitive pig' regarding Leah.
Connect2tjb: :D Thanks for all your support on this story.
Jamime2772: Whenever I write scenes Phil shares with Leah I have her side of the story right next to me as I try to integrate the two. I do have to stop myself from editing Leah's side of the story,
LinetteCullen: Lenny Kravitz, hmmm that would be a good description. Let me just google him just to make sure...all right yup this works for me. Really works well. I had forgotten how yummy that man looks.
MargotTenser: Leah does have a lot on her plate, losing a father would have been enough of a problem but on top of all that she lost her boyfriend, her dreams, her body and her free will. She is now still stuck on the reservation, occasionally she sees a glimmer of hope but then the waves of depression pull her back under.
She might believe that she is selfish in her depression, and the thoughts of her old pack had agreed with her but she was still able to see past herself and think about others. She could understand why Rosalie would be upset over never being able to have a child, she could fight and badmouth Bella for hurting Jake - she might have done the latter in a less than delicate manner but she still tried.
It is hard to write Phil when he is not so perfect, I am hoping it will not piss off too many people but he is not the knight in shinning armor Leah always sees him as. He is about duty and responsibilities, a guardian that has had to do some horrible things all in the name of protecting humans from the experiments. He might not always feel guilty but he knowns he should which can lead to a buildup of some nasty baggage. Leah being a pack creature should not bother him much, he is very much a family man. He understands loyalty and caring, I would think that Phil would be proud of Leah for trying to help her friend and Claire but he would probably be upset that she tried to do it alone. I keep trying to think of who in the family would be a good partner for Leah, if I ever get that far in time. I was thinking this really uptight British guy might be fun, one that was brought forward in time from the Victorian age or something (that would be kind of fun). Well I know you thought your review was blabbering but I loved reading it.
Bingo: I don't know if you have read this far ahead right now, but as for what Leah wore when she went to visit Sassy's planet yes I was thinking of something very similar to the clothes worn traditionally around India. I figured in a similar environment people would develop the same style of clothing.
IB Teri: Have you read this part yet? Glad you like the story, does this Phil live up to your expectations?
