Chapter 3

Blair had just finished emptying his gun into the target when a female voice assessed his performance.

"Nice."

He looked up, startled. He had not expected anyone else in the shooting-range at this hour. Especially not a leggy blonde in skintight leather. 'Nice' was damned right…

"Uh, hi."

"Hey," the girl answered, grinning. "You Jim?"

"Blair."

"Ah. The Guide." She grinned in acknowledgement before squeezing off three shots. Each hit the target, center-mass, in a neat cluster. "Ashley Magnus."

"Oh. Helen's sister?"

"Not quite." Her smile widened. "I'm her daughter."

"Ah, sorry. I didn't realize she was old enough to have kids." Especially not adult kids. "Blair Sandburg."

"Nice to meet you, Blair," she answered, smacking his shoulder. "And I know what you're thinking, but don't ask Mom her age. You'll only get an answer you aren't ready for." More shots, again center-mass. "You like shooting?"

"It's relaxing. Never thought I'd say something like that about shooting a gun, but I have some damned good memories associated with learning how to use the things."

She grinned. "Me, too. Mom taught me when I was about six. The smell of burnt gunpowder still brings back all kinds of good memories. Makes me feel loved."

"Know that feeling," he agreed, ejecting his clip and reloading it from the bullets on the table between them. Naomi would have been appalled at that admission, but there it was. During a time when no one seemed to be happy unless they were giving him shit, those sessions at the range had been an oasis of calm and only reinforced his sense of acceptance from the one person who really mattered.

"Who'd you learn from?" she asked.

"Jim Ellison."

"He's the Sentinel guy?" She nodded. "His powers must be sweet. Always wanted to be an abnormal myself. Hell, both my parents are, so it seems like a given, but no luck."

He considered her for a moment. She was an uncanny shot but, aside from that and killer looks, nothing about her seemed particularly exceptional. More shots from her gun. The poor target was already toast; Ashley just compounded it.

"You'd like to be an abnormal?" he asked her.

"Would depend on my powers, but yeah. Who wouldn't?"

"Jim's reluctant to admit that he's different," he told her. "Anything you could think of that might change his mind?"

He slid the clip back into its compartment.

"No one comes to the Sanctuary against his wishes," she answered, shrugging. "If he's here, it's because it's his time to be here. You'll both learn to settle in," she promised.

"If you say so."

"It's not all bad, you know. This world."

"No?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'm an only child, but having Henry was like having a brother. Even if he's occasionally a total dog." She grinned.

He smiled back, ignoring the joking reference to Henry's affliction. "I can imagine how comforting that must be. Having a brother, I mean."

"Only child?"

"Yeah. And zero stability growing up. Naomi and I moved all over the place. Never stayed long enough to get settled in before we were off again. Got pretty lonely."

"Harsh," she answered with a sympathetic frown. "I mean, we travelled a lot with Mom's work, but we always had this place to come home to."

"Having a real home is important," he agreed. "Of course, I didn't know what I was missing until much later. Woke up one morning, realized I actually had a home. It was…"

It had actually reduced him to tears, but there was no reason to mention that.

Ashley seemed to understand anyways. "That's about how I felt when I realized how important Henry is in my life. It shakes you, but in a good way."

"Never tried to put it into words, but that's a good description, actually."

"Mom says you were training to be a scientist?"

"Long time ago. These days, seems like all that was in a past life."

"You sacrificed your career for his protection. That's stand-up."

"It was my fault in the first place. Never was one to stop and think things through."

"No, neither am I," she agreed. "Hey, it's a nice night. Want to go for a walk in the garden?"

"Sounds nice," he agreed, safetying his weapon and going to holster it.

"Hey," she said, grabbing his wrist and raising his gun to eye-level. "That is not a standard police-issue."

"It was a gift."

"Hell of a nice gift," she answered, eyeing the gun the way he typically eyed attractive girls. He loved his gun, but her enthusiasm for it was just unsettling. "What's with the wolf?" she asked finally, indicating the engraving on the grip.

"My spirit animal," he explained. "Jim figured that with my capacity for getting into trouble I could use the extra backup."

"The wolf, huh?" she asked as he holstered the gun. "Impressive."

Blair shrugged. "What's your spirit animal?"

"Well, that's certainly more creative than 'what's your sign?'" she laughed, smacking his shoulder and leaving the shooting range.

Grinning, he followed her.

"Isn't the wolf generally associated with lust?" she asked as they headed for the garden.

"I am as God made me, Red Riding Hood," he answered, grinning.

"Yeah, 'cause there's an answer designed to comfort a girl."

"Don't worry, I'm harmless," he assured her.

She smiled. "Oh, I seriously doubt that."

"Okay, so Jim would say I'm playing to type. Only been in the city a few hours and I've already made friends with the most beautiful woman around."

She smiled at that. "Just keep your hands to yourself, Casanova, and we'll get along fine."

"Fair enough," Blair agreed. "So, what do you do here?"

"I hunt monsters."

"You…" He stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was serious.

Her smile widened. "True story. Ashley Magnus, monster hunter. Track 'em down, catch 'em, exterminate 'em if that's what's called for." She shrugged. "You go for diplomacy first, of course, 'cause half of them just want to be left in peace. It's the other half you have to watch out for."

When they reached the garden, it was occupied.

"Oh, hey, Henry!" Ashley greeted the werewolf, waving. "Have you met Blair yet?"

"Uh, we kind of ran into each other earlier," Henry answered, giving Blair a wry smile.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Jim gets a little edgy at times."

"Hey, can't blame him for drawing on me when he expected a wild animal to lope around that corner instead." Henry shrugged. "No hard feelings." He offered his hand to Blair.

Blair shook, smiling. "So, you're actually…"

Henry nodded.

Wow.

"What's it like?"

"Took me some time to come to terms with it," he admitted. "I very seriously considered letting Doctor Magnus lobotomize me rather than have to live with it. But it comes in handy at times." He shrugged. "Just have to be careful about smell and taste and things."

"Sounds like you've got some things in common with Jim," Blair remarked.

"I may have to talk to him. He's been dealing with whacked-out senses a lot longer than I have. He won't try to shoot me again, will he?"

Blair smiled and shook his head. "I'm sure he'll be glad to help any way he can. We aren't interrupting you, are we?"

"Nah. I just needed to get out of the office for a few minutes."

"The new security protocols giving you problems, Henry?" Ashley asked, frowning and grasping his shoulder.

"No, they're just a pain to get up and running while the old ones are still operational, that's all. Nothing that can't be fixed with a massive infusion of caffeine and thirty-six consecutive hours of work."

"Am I going to have to sedate you?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"You can just feel the love, can't you, Blair?" Henry asked.

"Hey!" Ashley protested, giving him a gentle shove. "Just 'cause I don't want my best bud dropping dead of exhaustion. And I'm suddenly the unreasonable one? Go get some sleep, Henry. The new security protocols can wait until morning. You can tell Mom I forced you at gunpoint."

"Yes, ma'am." He saluted and wandered off. "See you, Blair."

"See you, man."

"You look like you could use some sleep yourself," Ashley remarked.

"Probably wouldn't hurt," he agreed. "So, uh, you want to grab a nightcap or something?"

"I'll see you in the morning, Blair," she answered, turning and fading into the shadows.

He could just hear Jim's voice in his head, laughing and telling him that Ashley Magnus was out of his league. Which, while probably true, was also a damned shame.

Shrugging, he went back to his room.