So, this part doesn't exactly have to do with the Auphe, but it involves how Cal views himself and his relation to the Auphe. It is partly in Niko's and party in Cal's perspective, and its a little angsty... because Cal would just not be Cal without the angst that we all love him for :D. Let me know what you think! I hope that you guys are enjoying my stories, I'm not sure how well I do the first person perspective thing... but well, I was pretty happy with it.
Oh, one more thing. I like Promise as a character and all, but she brings Cal down a lot. I know that he instigates a lot of the time, but it still bothers me. I just think that sometimes she should know better than to say what she says to Cal... yeah anyways. I'm done rambling! I swear.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Cal Leandros series, it is property of Rob Thurman.
I groaned as I was bathed in cool, slick revenant blood. I viciously yanked my knife out and tried not to grimace as I wiped flecks of blood off my face. Some dumb ass asked us to clear the neighborhood of revenants. Because we wanted to be fair, and by we I mean Nik and by fair I mean goody two shoes, we had given the client a warning that they would be back. Just like cockroaches, you could never get rid of the damn things. Swear to God, if there was a nuclear war all that would be left in the world would be revenants and cockroaches. Nasty bastards.
I heard the crunch of steel toed boot and skull and turned to see Nik taking out the last of them.
"Je-sus, how many of those things were these anyways? Must have been fifty." Yeah we sure as hell earned our paycheck tonight… I hated earning my paycheck.
"Thirty seven actually, and if it felt like more to you perhaps we should increase the length of your work out." He deadpanned. Yeah, that wouldn't have been funny even if he were joking.
"Come on Nik." I groaned. "If I spend anymore time working out I won't have time to do everything else I have to do."
"You mean like sleep until the afternoon and watch bad daytime television?" He wiped some off the excess blood of on the scraps of clothes the now headless revenant was wearing before pulling a Houdini and making it disappear into that damn Mary Poppins coat of his.
Goodfellow, who stood in an immaculately clean outfit that looked like it was worth more than what we were getting paid today, groaned.
"Honestly Cal, you've finally found someone willing to do the nasty with you and you still spend your days watching daytime television." He shook his head and glanced up toward the sky. "Where did I go wrong."
"Shut the hell up." I grumbled, for lack of a better come back, and followed them out of the alley as we went to collect. We hadn't met face to face with our employer. Everything up to this point was over the phone. It was suspicious. We better get paid tonight or I was going to round up a truck full of revenants and dump them in this God forsaken neighborhood… well maybe I wouldn't but I'd still be pissed as hell.
Promise went to the door and knocked lightly. The door opened quickly and a tall woman stood framed in the doorway with ink black hair that draped past her waist.
"It's all here." She said quietly an envelope clutched tightly in her moon pale hand, I caught a glimpse of her mouth through the veil of her hair. She had no lips. I surreptitiously sampled the air. She smelled slightly like a pond. She must be some part Lamia then. Goodfellow wasn't quite so inconspicuous.
"Part Lamia…" he whispered in disgust.
The girl, who had obviously heard him, quickly shoved the money at Promise and shut the door with a snap. I glanced over at Goodfellow, who had the grace to look sheepish. I bit back the bitter comment roiling in my mouth. He didn't get it, and he wouldn't. There was no point in saying anything, so for once in my life I kept my trap shut.
Promise stepped down from the doorway with the money in hand.
"Yes, rather odd. I cannot begin to understand the circumstances that allowed for that combination." Her nose scrunched in distaste. I just shoved my hands in my pockets and kept my eyes on the ground.
"Is the money all there and accounted for?" Niko said coolly, abruptly ending the conversation. A silent conversation passed between them before some of the tension bled out of his stance. Good, I was glad they didn't fight over this. It wasn't worth it and I damn sure didn't want to hear it.
"Relax, it's not like we said anything that isn't true and I'm sure she isn't deluded enough not to realize she's not quite human. I mean what with the cravings for warm screaming life blood and all-" I kicked the back of his knee and felt much more satisfaction than I should have when he went almost all the way down.
"Fuck!" He exclaimed straightening and turning to glare at me. It quickly faded in light of whatever he saw on my face.
"Cal I-" He started uncertainly, a feeling the pompous Puck almost never showed.
"Forget it Loman." Whatever he was going to say I didn't want to hear it. Besides, the truth was he just didn't know better. He didn't mean to hurt that girl, it didn't change the fact that he did and it didn't change how that girl felt, but it did mean something.
I kept on telling myself that as we trudged on to Promise's apartment.
----
It was another late night. We had an extermination job earlier, a woman paid us to clear the revenants out of his neighborhood. They would be back, but perhaps not in such numbers. Well, so went the theory. However, I wasn't foolish enough to turn down any extra money. My tuition bill couldn't be paid simply through my and Cal's "day jobs" so to speak.
I watched the shifting crack of light under my doorway and noticed by the light patterns that Cal was pacing again. Not something he was usually prone to do, what with his chronic laziness and all.... Promise had taken a shower when she got back and Cal was waiting in line to take one after her. He was the only one who ended up splattered in gore. I sighed, Cal is a messy fighter in every way there is to be a messy fighter.
I heard Promise's footsteps approach and then stop abruptly. Both her and Cal's shadows became still.
"Caliban, why won't you look at me?" By the slight shift in her tone I could tell that she already knew, we all already knew, but she wanted to hear him say it. She wanted him to acknowledge it.
I had a brief war with myself over whether or not to interrupt this conversation. Cal had had enough and I was sure no good would come of it. Promise spoke before I was decided.
"It's about what Robin and I said about that girl isn't it?" She continued since Cal remained unresponsive.
She gave a light sigh and I could almost see the slight unhappy downturn of her lips.
"I apologize, I should not have said what I said. However I do not think you should trouble yourself over the matter. The girl will be fine, I am quite certain she has had to deal with such comments all her life. One more will certainly not break her." It was a long speech from her and though I was rarely ever taken off my guard I found myself surprised.
Was she really so unaware of the affects of such a comment? How could she spend so much time around Cal and not know?
The silence stretched on for what seemed like a long, long time but couldn't have been much longer than a minute. Cal said nothing in response, it was unlike him to be so silent. He usually had something sarcastic to say that took away from the sincerity of the conversation and diffused the tension. I wished I could see his face, then I would know what he was thinking.
Finally Promise must have decided that Cal wasn't going to say anything. I heard her footsteps get closer to the doorway and her hand close on the knob before Cal spoke.
"Seven hundred and fifty three." He said in an odd quite voice. I tried to dissect his tone and his words but came up blank. What was he talking about?
"Cal?" Promise asked, and for a moment I was just as confused as she was, then I realized what he was talking about… what he was counting. I felt my heart clench and my fingernails were digging so hard into my palm that it must have hurt, it must have… but I didn't feel it.
"Seven hundred and fifty three," he repeated, "is the number of times since as long as I can remember that someone has called me an Auphe or a monster." He gave a dark laugh. "It's the same thing I suppose."
"And yeah, of course she already knows what she is. I bet no one ever lets her forget it." I heard his footsteps, rapidly retreating towards the shower.
"Cal." It was one word, but it was filled to the brim with apologies.
"Don't worry about it Promise." His voice was softer now, and he was farther away. "It's not that big of a deal, I don't even know why I count. Stupid habit I guess." His shield was back up, the vulnerability hidden behind his nearly impenetrable barrier of sarcasm and bravado.
Promise would buy it, but I didn't for a second. And selfishly, for just a moment, I wished I did. He counted. He remembered every time, and suddenly I remembered too. He used to have Spiderman notebook. It was kindergarten and he was five years old but he kept that notebook for years. In the back of that notebook he kept a tally. I never knew what it was for, I never even thought to ask.
I had hoped that maybe he forgot some of Sophia's comments, that maybe I had prevented her words from scaring him too deep. I hadn't though, I hadn't done a damn thing. I ran through my memories and wondered which was his first memory. Perhaps when I was seven and he was three and she first told Cal that he was a half breed freak. Maybe later when he was four and Sophia had gotten drunk and told Cal that he would never have any friends because everyone could look at him and tell that he was a monster. It could have been the time on his fifth birthday when Sophia told him that something like him never should have been born in the first place. It could be anyone of those times, or the one of the many times in between.
I had worked so hard for Cal. I tried to block those cruel words for him, said so many more good things to him than Sophia said bad. But the bad things are what always stick with you. If anyone knew that it was Cal and me. The bad things never leave you, and what Sophia had done would always be a part of us. We couldn't save each other from that.
The memories poured into me like acid, making me nauseous and leaving a bitter taste on my tongue.
I heard Promise open the door and I relaxed my body into a perfect imitation of sleep. Almost as good as Cal's imitation of nonchalance about the awful lies he believed about himself.
I would keep trying though, defeat wasn't a concept I would accept in the fight for my brother, just like he never stopped fighting for me. Maybe we couldn't forget, but we could make better memories. Someday it may be enough to cancel out the poisonous ones.
Despite my attempt at positive thoughts I fell asleep with only one thought in my mind.
Seven hundred and fifty three… and still counting. Always counting.