The next time he appeared, Rory was coming out of the break room, carrying a box of new arrivals. He was squatting down, skimming the bottom shelves near the window. She dropped the box near the desk and stalked over to him.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed.
"Looking for the next book in that series I started over at your place," he said distractedly. "The one with the priest and the vampire and..." But before he could finish she'd rolled her eyes and walked to the next set of shelves and reached up to grab the book.
"Here," she handed it to him. "Now, you can go right?"
"See, this is just fascinating to me, this whole interpretation just gets to me." He was somewhere else completely, starting to scan through the volume.
"I'll buy it for you if you go now," she pleaded.
"Why? You get off soon, no?"
"How do you know that?"
"I came in this morning and asked. I wasn't going to lurk around the store all day."
"How considerate."
"Glad you thought so. Anyway, I figured we'd start today."
"Start what?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow, an expression she was increasingly beginning to associate with him.
"Training. What else?"
"Don't say that so loudly!" she whispered frantically. He grinned.
"Oh, calm down. I could be talking about anything. In any case," he held up the book. "Can I check out, please, miss?" he said politely. She glared but lead him back up to the cash register.
"Ah, Preacher, good choice," said Carl, who had started unpacking the box Rory had unceremoniously dumped before. "Anyways, Rory, you're free for today. Have fun," He gave her and Asa a smile.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks," she said sweetly while giving Asa the sort of look that would make a weaker man tremble.
"We will," Asa grinned. "I'll wait for you here," he told her innocently, ignoring her furious expression.
"Okay." She went back to the break room to clock out and grab her bag. She contemplated climbing out of the window for a moment, decided that wasn't practical, and took a deep breath. She walked back to the main store and out the front door, Asa right behind her.
"Relax, will you?" Asa said when they were outside. "It's not that big a deal."
"What did you tell him?" she fumed.
"Nothing. I said you were a friend and we'd planned to hang out after work but didn't know when you got off. I couldn't call because you were working. He seemed a bit surprised but that was all."
She made an incoherent grumbling noise.
"Seriously, you're making a big deal about nothing. You were worried about Rachel too, and was that really that bad?"
She shook her head. He was being a bit dense, in her opinion. Like she cared about interrogations. Rachel was beyond that, anyway. If Rory said to drop it, she would. Rachel respected her that much. She turned in the direction of her car, but he grabbed her arm and turned her around.
"Or, are you worried about something more than them teasing you?" he asked. She blanched and tried to pull away.
"You are, aren't you?" He laughed. "You're scared the big bad demon is going to go after your friends next, is that it?"
"They don't have any part of this," Rory said, standing her ground, glaring up at him. "You never should've talked to them."
"Oh, little one, you have so much to learn." He said, meeting her gaze with a hint of amusement in his eyes, "Rest assured, I have no interest in any living human, apart from you. Your friends are not on my radar. You have nothing to fear there."
"But you went after that kid, and his dad and they were still alive." She lowered her voice; aware they were still in the open air.
"I told you, they were already going to die. Whether at that moment or an hour later in the hospital, it was imminent. The exact circumstances," his grip tightened on her arm, "Were a mistake, but the event itself was inevitable." He became vaguely aware of her renewed attempts to free herself from his grasp, and he loosened his hold on her slightly.
"Define 'mistake.'" She pressed him.
"It was a mistake. Look in a dictionary if you don't know what that means." He turned away from her. "Now, let's go."
"Where are we going? My car is this way."
"We're not taking your car," he said, starting to drag her along the sidewalk again, "We're going to a place to train. It's much easier if I just take you there myself."
"Wait, what? How--"
"Just come here," he pulled her into his arms. There was a feeling of lightness, of feeling like the ground was gone beneath her feet, in which the world was a mix of color and sound and shadow, and then...
They were in a meadow. A bright clear field of flowers placed elegantly against the setting sun. She could hear birds twittering overhead and the wind rustling through the grass.
Her mouth fell open.
"How the hell did you do that?" she gaped at him, stepping back and looking all around, her bag dropping at her feet. He gave her a 'are you kidding me?' sort of look and pointed a finger at his chest.
"Demon," he said simply.
"Heh, 'demon'" she said, imitating the gesture and his voice. "That is not an actual explanation!"
"Sure it is. We can transport wherever we want, makes it easier to go hunting, and go back and forth to the demon realm."
"Well, as long as there's a logical explanation." She looked up at the sky. "So how far away are we from home?"
"Don't know, about, hundred or so miles?" He shrugged. She gulped, regretting asking the question. Fear started to set in. Just what was he planning?
She tried to control her breathing and took a few more paces back from him.
"Take me back," she said, trying to sound calmer than she felt. "Take me back right now."
"No," he said simply. "You need and want to learn how to control the mana, so you're going to learn how. No one will be able to bother us out here, so we can practice for a while."
"No, no I want to go home. I don't--"
"If you don't feel safe, isn't practicing the best way to go forward?" he said, taking a step closer to her. She took another step back, unable to look at him.
"Fine. Do what you like," he said, and he sat on the ground and pulled out the book he'd bought at the comic book store. "But we're not leaving here until you at least try." She scowled.
"Please. Please take me home. I'll practice there. I'll practice anywhere closer. I just want someone to know where I am."
"So they can do what exactly?" he asked, not looking up from the book. "Weren't you just saying how you didn't want anyone else involved? To be honest, if you're that scared of me, you're the one with the extra mana that can be used as a defensive mechanism. What's a normal human going to do besides stand there looking pathetic? Kind of like what you're doing now."
"I'm not pathetic!"
"Then prove it." He looked at her, and anger made her blood pound in her veins.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked through clenched teeth.
"What would you like to do right now?" he asked.
"Hit you very, very hard."
"Okay." He shrugged, and within a second was on top of her, pinning her to the ground. She struggled against him, but it was useless.
"Is that all you've got?" he teased. He flung her around so she was on her stomach and he was sitting on top of her. Rory blew her hair out of her face and after a moment of disbelief at the situation she was in, she heard the rustling of pages, and knew he had pulled out the book he had just recieved.
"You are the worst person in the entire world."
"You make a very uncomfortable seat, I hope you're aware," he said, adjusting his position. "Doesn't mean I'm going to move, just wanted to make you aware."
"I'll take that into consideration next time I tell someone they can use me as a sofa," she grumbled.
"Sooner you figure out how to connect with the pendant the sooner you force me off," he said, looking quite content to sit and read as she struggled beneath him.
She paused for breath and tried to twist to look up and him.
"Why did you want that thing anyway?"
"Hm?"
"Preacher. Why did you want it? Surely it annoys you, as a demon, the whole Word of God, interpretation of a bureaucratic heaven, what have you."
"Nah. I'm quite entertained. The things humans do to deal with the inevitability of death, and the fact that they know nothing of what comes after. This is great."
"That's nice, coming from an immortal demon who is...how old?"
"I never said I was immortal."
"Aren't you?"
"Well, yes. I am. There are ways we can be killed, there's a generational shift in the realm every, oh, millennia, or so."
"So how old are you?" She asked.
"You're not going to freak out on me, are you?"
"All things considered, I think I'm doing okay so far."
"213."
She swallowed her exclamation. "I'd say you don't look a day over 200."
He laughed. "We age more slowly than you do. When I was about, 40, I looked like I was 18, 19? From then, it slows down considerably, and considerably more by the time we'd look about 30, 35 in human years. It's hard to put a gauge on it. Time moves differently, to us. But 213 is still quite young. How old are you?"
She didn't know why she felt so stupid for her answer.
"Almost 21."
"Right, so I don't know why you'd be upset about me making jokes about the afterlife. You've got way too much life left in you to worry yourself about it."
She wanted to argue with him, remembering the boy's young face, but she let out an involuntary grunt of pain as he re-adjusted himself on her back.
"Now, are you going to lay there all day or are you going to get off your ass and work?" The words, so playfully said, made her blood boil.
She closed her eyes, feeling the anger course through her. What had happened that night? She'd been afraid, sure. Had it been pure adrenaline? But what had been the first spark?
She remembered the eyes of the boy again, and the feeling of power flowing into her. The snap moment when her eyes had met Asa's for the first time. She focused on that feeling, trying to make it her center. She wanted that warmth, that comfort, to be blanketed in that blue light.
The pendant on her chest started to grow hot, as she opened her eyes and turned her face back to Asa.
"Little one?" he asked. "You okay there?"
She smiled.
And he flew back from her. It was only a few feet, but it was enough to knock the wind from him. She was still gloating when she realized her mistake.
He was back on her in a second, arms tight around her, pulling her as he began to run.
"Asa! Stop!"
"Make me or keep up with me. The choice is yours, either way, you're learning something."
She tried to wiggle out of his grip, but it was no good. She instead sent her focus on creating a barrier of light around her skin. She took a deep breath and exhaled.
He swore as she tumbled out of his grip, violently rolling across the meadow. She tucked in her head to protect it but she could still feel bits of earth scratching against her, as she finally tumbled to a halt. She stayed still, the wind completely knocked out of her, as Asa silently appeared beside her, brushing her hair gently out of her face.
"Rory? Rory, are you okay?" She nodded, still panting, and he ran his eyes across her exposed arms. "What did you do?"
"What?"
"When you got me to let go. How'd you do it?" He peered down at her, looking simultaneously impressed and murderous.
She blinked, trying to clear her head, but explained to him the mental picture of the skin barrier.
"It worked," he said simply, running a finger along her shoulder, "There's not a scratch on you. Surprised it held up while you were rolling and more unfocused. However, that was dangerous. Yes, it worked. But, such a haphazard way of accomplishing your goal left you vulnerable. A better way would've been to focus on pushing me off, make me lose control of my momentum versus you losing yours. That way, you and your opponent have time to regain footing, versus you flying away, and them being able to get a jump on you again."
She gaped at him.
"Was that a compliment or an insult? I can't tell."
"Both. So, we go again."
She opened her mouth to protest, but he had already picked her up and unceremoniously dumped her over his shoulder fireman style.
"Asa!" She yelped. She thumped his back, but it was no good. He cut across the meadow, towards the forest beyond. She tried concentrating again, but he was going so fast, she wasn't sure how to get herself off him safely.
"You'd better make up your mind soon," Asa taunted her.
"What are you doing!?" She couldn't see from her current position. He let out a low chuckle, she felt a rush of air past her ears, and suddenly she was sitting in the middle of the mass of leafy branches.
Asa straddled the branch next to her. "Minus 10 points for failing to figure out an exit strategy," A small smile played across his face, "Plus two for not panicking, yet, at least. Your heart rate is still under control."
"You--" She stopped, trying to regain control of her thoughts, as so many came to her at once, "You can hear my heartbeat?"
"No, it's your physical demeanor. Your breathing is as under control as I could hope given the circumstances. You're flushed, but not too much. No out of control sweating or dizzy spells. You're keeping, mostly, calm and in control." He raised an eyebrow as she glared at him. "What? It was a compliment."
"Then you have quite a few things to learn about compliments."
"Get yourself down from here, and I'll give you one."
"Come again?"
"You heard me. You didn't get away before I got you up here, so now you've got to get yourself down."
"You're such an asshole."
"If I say I'm an asshole, will that make you focus?"
"Maybe. Probably."
"Fine. I'm an asshole. Not get your butt to the ground before I move it even higher."
She swallowed the curses the sprang to mind and dare to peak at the ground below. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe.
"What?" He asked. She shook her head. She didn't trust herself to speak.
The first few ideas for how to get back on the solid ground didn't seem very realistic. Leveling the tree? Nope. Flying off on the tree branch? Ha. Curling in a little ball and tumbling again? Hell no.
But, that did give her another idea. Worst came to worst, he'd just save them both and tell her she was an idiot again, right?
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"You're just wasting more time," he rolled his eyes.
"No, I'm not," she lunged for him, and he was so surprised he let her weight, with a little help from the mana, fling them over the branch.
She ignored his yell, and pulled herself on top of him, concentrating on creating a shield behind his back, and between the two of them. She could sense the power flickering behind her fingertips, but she refused to think about it. Rory closed her eyes, focusing as hard as she could. They landed harder than she'd intended, and she rolled away from him about ten feet before springing to her feet, hands in front of her chest, shield back in place.
Black started to fill in the edges of her vision as she saw Asa calmly rise to his feet, brushing the dirt off himself. Her knees began to tremble, and she tried to keep herself upright, the shield flickering in and out of place. She wanted to tell him she couldn't continue, but when she tried to speak, she couldn't speak. It felt like there was cotton in her mouth. She tried to take a step towards him, but her legs would no longer support her weight, and she came down, falling forward into the grass, not even able to hold up her arms to protect her face.
But he was there, before she hit the ground, holding her against his chest.
"Rory!?" He brushed her hair out of her face, and she could hear him, but only faintly. She didn't have the strength to open her eyes. It felt like every bit of energy had been sucked out of her.
"Ah fuck," she heard from above her, and suddenly, something warm was pressing against her lips, a hand wrapped tightly around her waist. The world behind her eyes was a bright electric purple, and she bolted upright, gasping for breath.
"What, what happened?" She asked, looking around.
"You idiot," he grumbled, looking more than a little annoyed. "You almost killed yourself."
"I just, wait, what?" She was so confused, the last few seconds a blur.
"You tapped beyond the kid's mana and spent your own as well." He was furious.
"And how was I supposed to know that?"
"Did you start to feel, I don't know, like you might pass out?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess."
"And did you try to keep going anyways?" He glowered at her.
"Yes, but I didn't--"
"That's when you should have stopped!"
"Hey! Don't go acting high and mighty on me about this. We said we would work this shit out, didn't we? You dragged me out here. You decided to sit on me until I figured it out, with no guidance at all. You decided to keep testing me, without giving me any ideas on how to keep it in check, or what parameters to keep in mind so I wouldn't go overboard. And you didn't give me a second to breathe. Do you really want to place the blame on me?"
He scowled.
"You, Rory, are a formidable blunt ax."
"What?"
"I told you I would give you a compliment."
She gaped at him.
"In what universe is that a compliment?"
"I called you formidable, didn't I? And something blunt can be sharpened. You have potential."
To this, she had no words. It genuinely seemed as though he meant to praise her, but she currently didn't have the energy or patience to explain all the ways in which he could improve his methods. Instead, she changed the subject to a different, though still pressing, matter.
"Just how did you wake me up, anyway?"
"I would have thought that was obvious," he said, raising an eyebrow. "I gave you some of my mana." He gestured to the pendant at her neck. Sure enough, a bright purple and a weak blue-white light were held inside.
"Oh. Okay, but how?"
"I kissed you." He shrugged. Her eyebrows shot up into her hair.
"You can't steal my expression." He laughed.
"You what?!"
"That was the easiest way. Basically, the only way."
"But--"
"And anyway," He interrupted, "I need to take it back now."
"A, we've had this argument before, and b, At the risk of that increasing, why?"
"Demon energy is different than human energy. Even with that pendant, you'll feel its effects. It was a good kick-start, like a shock to your system, but too much and you'll overload again, and it's been too soon since the last time you were overwhelmed by the mana. You've put your body through a lot of shit in a short space of time."
"Whose fault is that?" Rory snapped back at him. He rolled his eyes.
"If you had let me take the kid's mana in the first place, we wouldn't be here now, would we?"
"If you hadn't--"
"Are we really doing this again?" His nostrils flared in irritation. She crossed her arms defensively in front of her.
"I told you. Deja vu." They glared at each other. Asa broke away first. He closed his eyes, took a breath, then opened them again.
"Look..." He was obviously choosing each word carefully. "This isn't what I planned. I know this isn't what you planned. But now you have my energy, and you really can't argue that this time it is mine, that I need it back. It will overload you, it will hurt you, and I know you don't want to feel as terrible as you did a couple days ago, right?"
She sighed. He did have a point. Though at the moment, she felt good. More energized than she could ever remember feeling.
"So, how do we do this?" She asked.
"We're going to do it the nice way, the way I tried the night we first met. Officially. But that will mean close contact, so please, try to stay still. Okay? It won't take long."
"Define 'close contact?'" She was still skeptical. He grinned.
"I won't touch you inappropriately. It's just another kiss. It'll just feel a bit more intense, now that you're conscious, but you shouldn't remember a thing after. I don't use this method a lot. And who knows? Maybe with your abilities you'll be less affected...or more."
Before she could say anything more he placed his hands on her shoulders and gently placed her on the ground, her back on the soft grass, so she was staring up at him.
"Okay?" he asked, and she nodded. "Rory, look at me," he said softly. His hair was falling into his eyes again, but he brushed it back. He peered down at her, his black eyes all she could focus on, all she could see. Her muscles began to relax, everything seemed to let go. She couldn't for the life of her remember anything outside of those eyes.
"It's just for a second, Rory, just relax," His voice was so deep and smooth, and why shouldn't she relax? What on earth was there to be tense about?
Then he was kissing her, and the world tilted sideways, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to pull him closer, or if she wanted to let herself sink deeper into the earth and let every part of her melt. She couldn't move, couldn't do anything, except give in and kiss him back. He felt so wonderful against her, and she could feel something, some energy, going away from her. It was like tension or nervous energy, and she was glad it was leaving her so that she could enjoy this moment even more.
But then something changed. It felt like he was taking more from her, something that didn't want to give. She didn't understand. She just wanted that feeling of peace back. She couldn't peel away from him to say something was wrong, nor did she really want to. It was like a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, as her body stayed in a state of perfect contentment.
And then, he was gone, and she became aware of his hands tight around her waist and her shoulder, as he pulled himself away from her, breaking the eye contact, breaking the connection.
"Ah, there we go. I almost went a hair too long, but don't worry. You've still got yours and the kid's mana. It'll probably just take a few hours for the energy to fully come back after everything you did today."
Rory tried to sit up, but her body was not cooperating. So, she continued to lay back on the ground, waiting for it to catch up with her brain, which was lost in a train of thought.
What the hell was that?
Why did that feel like that?
Was that a normal reaction?
Why does he have to be such a damn good kisser?