"Say goodbye to your wife, Speirr. Don't worry. I'll take really good care of her."
Camulus put her in a car and drove away.
"No!" Talon shouted. He wouldn't be the death of Sunshine.
Not again.
It was close to four in the afternoon when Nick rounded the corner of the Pedestrian Mall and caught sight of Ash standing outside of the Corner Cafe, waiting for him. The Atlantean was leaning back against the red-brick wall with his arms folded over his chest and one leg bent and braced on the wall in a way that looked nonchalant, and yet Nick knew Ash could launch himself into action at the slightest provocation.
Dressed in black leather pants, a black T-shirt, and a long, pirate/Colonial style coat, Ash was watching the tourist crowd cut a wide berth around him.
A lethal, dark aura surrounded him. An aura like the one around a wild predator that was both graceful and attractive to behold, but one that let a person know that at any minute they could wind up as lunch.
No one was ever sure how to approach the oldest Dark-Hunter and so most people treated Ash like a visit to the dentist.
In all honesty Nick felt sorry for him. It must be hard to wield so much power and not have anyone to confide in. Ash kept a big distance between him and anyone who would get close to him-both physically and mentally.
Nick tried to treat him just like he would any other guy he hung with and he suspected Ash liked that.
At least he seemed more relaxed around Nick than he did the other Hunters or Squires.
"Look, Mommy, a giant!"
Nick turned to see a little girl around the age of five pointing up at Ash.
Her mother took one look at Ash, gathered her daughter into her arms, and hurried across the street toward the cathedral as fast as her legs would carry her.
Ash waved at the little girl who was still telling her mom to look at him. Poor guy.
Nick closed the distance between them. "You know, if you dressed a little less scary, people might not do that to you."
Pulling his sunglasses low on the bridge of his nose with his forefinger, Ash gave him a wry smile. "Trust me, Nick, it's not the clothes."
He was probably right. Ash had a way about him that was unnaturally intimidating and lethal-kind of like you knew something about Ash wasn't quite human.
Nick noticed Ash had changed hair color. Again. This morning when he'd been at Kyrian's, Ash's hair had been purple. "Back to being black-haired, eh?"
"Back to being annoying, eh?" he quipped.
Nick laughed.
Ash pushed himself away from the wall and picked his black backpack up from the ground. Nick had never known Ash to leave it behind and he'd always been curious about what it contained.
However, he wasn't suicidal enough to try to find out. Ash guarded that bag like a treasured jewel.
"So, how was your test?" Ash asked.
"It sucked. I could have used my microscopic two-way communicator with you. I'm taking Classical Greek civilization with Julian Alexander and he's kicking my ass. That man is one tough drill instructor."
"Yeah, he was never one for nepotism."
Nick inclined his head toward the restaurant, which was only about half full. "Do you mind if I eat while we have this meeting? I skipped lunch to study and now I'm starving."
"Sure," Ash said, then held the door open for him to enter first.
Now that Nick thought about it, Ash did that a lot. He never let anyone get behind him. He always stood with his back to something or kept the crowd in front of him.
His mother would call that a gunfighter's itch. That nervous twitch of someone who expected at any moment to face an unseen attack.