Kyle led the woman quickly through the door of the mansion, shutting it behind them. Their pursuers hadn't followed them, thank God. You couldn't be too careful, though.
He turned back around to see her looking around with apprehension at the cobweb filled room. He knew how she felt- he didn't care for the décor, either.
"You can stay as long as you want." Kyle's voice made her jump as if she'd forgotten he was there.
"Alright." She answered softly, giving him another nervous look.
"My name's Kyle." He offered, holding a hand out for her to shake, hoping an introduction would ease her nerves a bit.
She looked at his hand, biting her lip uneasily before hesitantly shaking it. "I'm Kira."
Kyle smiled in relief that she had shook his hand, releasing her so that she wouldn't get too scared again. "Well Kira, feel free to go wherever you'd like here. There are lots of rooms upstairs. You can choose any one of them to sleep in."
She seemed surprised by the offer. "Thank you. You have… helped me a lot, today."
Kyle grinned and shrugged casually. "Like I said, I wasn't about to stand by while they hunted you like that."
She watched him, as if confused by him. "You're a very strange shifter, Kyle."
"You don't know the half of it, babe." He laughed in amusement. "Now- let's look at those scrapes." He reached out to touch her, only to have her jerk back again. He frowned and shook his head. "I'm only trying to help."
"I don't need help anymore. I can take care of myself now." She said in a low tone.
Kyle's frown deepened and he couldn't help a growl of frustration that made her shrink back. "Fine." He said simply, not trusting himself to say anything else without getting angry. He turned around and left her, annoyed that she couldn't even stand his touch long enough to let him help bandage her wounds.
Be patient. She is frightened- eventually she will realize we mean no harm.
Kyle knew the leopard was right, but he didn't have a long time to wait. He only had a month to try and live, to make his Beauty fall in love with the Beast.
Damn, what a beauty, though. Bright blue eyes, dark raven black hair that curled against her cheeks. He was going to have a hard time not touching her, even though it scared her.
He needed to get his mind off her for a while so she could settle down. He got an idea and walked down the corridors to find Tinder.
"So… we created a fire just to use the ash?" Tinder asked with interest, looking at the dwindling flames in the fireplace.
"Right." Kyle nodded, watching the metal can he had filled with wood from earlier. Apparently he was in a time where cans were common, at least. The pantries were filled with canned vegetables and fruit. All he had needed to do was take out a big can, eat the contents and use it for what he wanted. "I can use the remaining charcoal from the wood in that can in the fire on the parchment the gnomes made."
Tinder looked over at the paper, tilting his head curiously. "For what?"
"You'll see." Kyle grinned in amusement at the lizard's curiosity.
He nodded to Tinder and the lizard extinguished the flames and all heat in the fireplace, leaving the can and charcoal instantly cool. Man, what an awesome ability.
He reached in and found the wood had turned into charcoal like he had hoped it would, the pieces large and bulky, but still able to be used for what he wanted.
His parents had said his education was a waste, but now that he had died so young he was glad he had pursued something he loved rather than something for the sole purpose of gaining money quickly. He took the parchment in his hand, leaning down against the wooden floor and taking a piece of charcoal, looking at Tinder before making a quick sketch. "See?" He said, holding up the picture. It was a stylized version of him- not an exact drawing by any means, but it was obvious what it was.
The lizard moved forward and looked at the drawing with wide eyes, his tongue flicking in and out thoughtfully. "Using fire and earth you created an image?"
"I guess that's one way of saying it." Kyle said in amusement. "I've always loved drawing- I even got a degree in it back home." He sagged a bit at that. Home… he was starting to miss it.
The lizard seemed to be entranced by the paper, staring at it and scanning it with its yellow eyes. "Oak!" It yelled out, looking toward the door as it called for the earth elemental. "You must see what Kyle made with your earth magic."
Kyle raised an eyebrow in interest, not knowing that the elementals had started using the names he had given them to identify each other. When he had first met them they hadn't seemed to understand the idea of names.
One of the older gnomes scuttled into the room, walking over to the paper and looking at it with wide eyes behind his bushy white beard. "Interesting!" Oak said, stroking his beard with a tiny hand. "He created this himself?"
"Indeed- I watched him do it." Tinder nodded. He looked up at Kyle, who was confused why the elementals were so impressed by just a simple sketch. "Elementals cannot create what does not already exist. We do not have the capability to do… that." He motioned at the picture with his tail. "Or even have the thought to make something different like that. It is very interesting."
"Wait- so you're saying elementals have no capability to think of something different…" Kyle thought for a moment, his eyes widening in realization. "you have no imagination?"
"We are creatures of nature. We have no need for it." The gnome shrugged. "We aid those in need, and care for our elements. Anything else is just frivolous."
"Well…" Kyle looked down at the sketch and wrinkled his nose. Did that mean they thought this was all he was capable of? "If you get me more parchment, I can make a lot more things like this- and much better."
Oak grinned and nodded, running out of the room happily to get what Kyle wanted.
He chuckled as the gnome scurried away, looking up at Tinder in amusement. "If I had known you guys would enjoy my drawings so much I would have done some sooner."
"You are a human of many talents, Kyle." Tinder said simply with a flick of his tail. "I have not known many humans to surprise me often, but you seem to have a new facet to you with every turn."
Kyle smiled to the lizard, turning back to start shading his sketch as he waited for the gnome to return.
Kira sat in the bedroom she had chosen, looking around at the dust and grime covering the walls and floor. It seemed as if this place hadn't been cleaned in… decades. How did that shifter live in conditions like this?
The shifter… he was a strange one, indeed. Instead of the common growling and hunting eyes the shifters had she had met before, this one acted more like a… human. He looked her in the eyes while he talked, and seemed to genuinely mean what he said. She couldn't forget the stories she had heard about leopard shifters, though. They were the most ferocious and… insistent of all the shifters in the world. Nothing stopped a leopard shifter from attaining his goal, whether that was wealth or… sex. They tended to be violent when they met obstacles standing in their way as well, which made her uneasy. All she needed was a violent shifter running after her after all this.
It had all gone so wrong. She had been so careful… she had watched so well to keep her secret, but it had still gotten out…
She shook her head, not wanting to think about that. No, she was safe now, at least. She had a bed- albeit stiff and crusty. She had shelter- though it was dusty. Her host seemed to care for her- even though he was a violent unpredictable shifter.
She shivered at the look in his eyes when he'd watched her earlier, the heat and interest. She had to watch herself carefully around him. She could defend herself if she needed to, but wouldn't unless it was absolutely necessary.
She looked up as a soft giggle sounded outside her door, not sounding at all like the gruff voice from the shifter. Was anyone else in the house?
She walked over to the door quietly, opening it to peak out into the hallway, seeing two air elementals chatting excitedly as they fluttered down the hallway, flying past her and both looking at her curiously.
"Come, come, you must see!" They twirled around her head so she laughed in amusement and nodded. Always follow an elemental- never make one unhappy. She had learned that long ago from her mother. They couldn't lie, they couldn't kill unless defending themselves. They were safe.
They guided her through the long corridors of the house, up a flight of stairs and into a large room where the walls were lined with bookshelves. She looked inside to see a wide array of elementals of every element gathered around papers on the floor, looking at them with interest as a laugh sounded that made her stomach twist. She peaked further in to see the shifter- Kyle- sitting on the floor, his cat paws crossed beneath him in a few human manner as he spoke with a salamander.
"They do look silly, don't they?" He said, laughing again as he went back to drawing on the paper in his hands.
She looked around the room, glancing at the papers on the ground to see sketches and drawings of elementals as well as things she didn't recognize. Machines that looked like motorcars on two wheels, a creature that looked to be half mammal and half bird… what were these strange things he was drawing?
She glanced at the elementals as they looked up at her, putting a finger to her lips to have them keep quiet that she was there. She didn't want to disturb his drawing. She had seen a few mediocre artists in her small village, but none of them had been as good as he was. Yet another strange thing about this shifter.
She walked over and motioned to the salamander in front of him to stay quiet, nearly jumping out of her skin when it smiled to her, as if amused. She had never heard of elementals having emotions before…
She looked down to see what he was drawing and put a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp of surprise. It looked to be… her! She had never had herself drawn in a portrait before- it was often so expensive to get good artists to draw for people it was far out of her meager budget. She stood watching him, as if entranced by the way his hand moved across the paper to make swift straight lines, curving with such precise skill she wondered where he had been mentored in his craft.