by Chloe Garner
“I’m beat,” Alexander said. “I may not even shower before I hit the sack.”
Tiffany giggled.
“I’m ready to go back to the house,” Samantha said.
“You want to get out of here?” Jason asked Tiffany. She nodded.
“Hey, Jason, we’ve got work to do in the morning,” Samantha said.
“We what?” Jason asked. Tiffany jerked to look at Samantha.
“Yeah. Early morning.”
“I’m going to grab a cab,” Alexander said. “Can I drop you somewhere?” he asked Tiffany.
“No, wait,” she said. “What?”
“Yeah, we’re just headed home,” Samantha said. “You’ll make sure she gets home safe?”
“Absolutely,” Alexander said, standing.
“Oh,” Tiffany said. “Well.” She grinned, springing out of her chair. “Okay.”
“What?” Jason asked as Alexander offered Tiffany his elbow when she bobbled on her heels. They disappeared out the front door and he looked at Samantha.
“What just happened?”
“I’m driving.”
“Like hell.”
“You’re drunk.”
“You had a bunch, too.”
“I can’t get drunk,” she said, holding out her hand.
“Dammit,” he said, pulling out his wallet and paying the bill, then handing her the keys. “I always drive.”
“How do you know I don’t drive home after bars, and then replace the memory?”
“You can’t do that.”
“Wanna bet?”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
She was silent.
“Would you?”
She grinned.
“You’re feisty,” he said.
“I like him,” she said.
“Why stop me from going home with Tiffany?” he asked.
“I believe Sam’s words to you were to stay in my sight,” she said.
“You couldn’t hear that,” Jason said.
“Sam let me know clear enough, though,” she said. “No going home with random women for a while, I’m afraid.”
Jason stopped cold.
“How long?”
“Dunno.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work.”
“Sorry. Until we get a handle on what’s going on with Brandt, you stay close.”
“That sucks,” Jason said.
“Yeah it does,” she said. “You pick some real winners, you know that?”
“What? She was nice.”
“She was a barbie doll.”
He considered.
“So? Who doesn’t like Barbie?”
<><><>
Tanner got an e-mail from his Seeker the next morning and left after Samantha and Jason had started their workout. Sam had forgotten something from shopping the day before, and he left Samantha and Jason sparring on the back lawn. Samantha had purchased a pair of practice swords, and the clack of wood on wood echoed off of the forest behind the house as they worked.
Jason was a hand-to-hand or firearm fighter. He didn’t like the length of wood in his hands, and it showed. Samantha wasn’t thrilled with the balance or the weight of the thing, but she had trained with worse. Again and again she corrected his form, his balance, his strategy, first with formal breaks and explanations, and then with punishment. He left himself open, she pressed her advantage, several times dropping him all the way to the ground when he didn’t have his feet where they needed to be. He was struggling to bend time and learn the tactics at the same time, so he couldn’t even rely on speed to make up for some of his mistakes.
They took a break to get water and went back out into the yard, picking up wordlessly. Samantha watched his eyes, evaluating his responses as she could read them in his eyes. He was brutally determined. It didn’t matter how many times she leveled him, it never wavered. She couldn’t tell what it was he was motivated by - beating her or making himself better, or some combination of the two - but it made it easier to press him. She had danced hard with Alexander the night before, and her back required special consideration to avoid over-stressing it. Her knees threatened to stiffen if she didn’t keep moving, and she had popped all of her lower vertebrae and several points in her hips during stretching that morning. She wondered if she was getting old or if she was just getting her strength back.
Jason reached a point of decent equilibrium, where he wasn’t making the glaring mistakes any more and was getting a better grip on bending time.
“So what are you going to do about Alexander?” Jason asked, shuffling his feet at the end of a motion to where they should have been.
“What about him?”
“You going to let him tag along when we leave?”
“Where are we going?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“I don’t know.”
“You want to?”
She thought, buying herself time by bending time hard and ending an attack with a flourish to amuse herself.
“Yes.”
“You trust him?”
“Don’t need to,” Samantha said. They traded strikes and Jason cocked his head.
“Why not?”
“I’ve tested him. He’s human. If all he ever wants to do is dance with me, does it matter what his other motives are? Or what his character is really like?”
“You weren’t just dancing last night,” Jason said.
She opened her mouth and closed it, pushing a more advanced tack to knock Jason clear of his feet again. She couldn’t come up with anything to say. Jason sprung back to his feet and brushed off his pants.
“I’m just saying. What if he’s just a run-of-the-mill creep? What if he’s just using you?”
“Does he strike you as a creep?” Samantha asked. They resumed the exchange of attacks.
“No. He seemed like a nice guy. But it’s my job to ask.”
“Why?”
“Because I care about you and if he did something out of line, I’d be the one who was going to beat him.”
“Why couldn’t I beat him up myself?” Samantha asked. Jason blocked three attacks in a row, unable to find a window to put her back on defense.
“Because I like him too much for that, and I don’t know him at all,” Jason said, grinning.
Something distracted her.
“Huh,” she said. Jason swung, and she reached out, grabbing the practice sword and cleanly removing him from it without looking. She twirled it and dropped it to her side, listening.
“What the hell?” Jason said.
“Oh. I’m sorry. You thought you were doing well,” Samantha said, grinning. He glowered at her. Samantha shook her head and held up a hand.
“What’s going on?” he asked. She frowned harder, then looked up at him.
“Sam just met someone.”
<><><>
The magic chemical reaction of discovery, new ideas, interest. The sick-sweet feeling of fear and unknown and excitement. Samantha sat on the couch in the living room, reeling of it.
“You weren’t upset when Sam met Carly,” Jason said.
“I hadn’t just spent the previous week finding corners to make out with him in, either,” Samantha said.
“You spent last night making out with Alexander,” Jason said. In public, Samantha added mentally. What was wrong with her? The shame of it was daunting, and she kept pushing it away.
“I’m not saying it’s rational,” Samantha said. “I didn’t even say I was upset.”
“But you are upset,” Jason said.
“You’re not helping.”
“Who is it?” Jason asked.
“I don’t have a freaking crystal ball,” Samantha said. His eyes twitched with amused surprise. “They’re coming back here. Or… Well, I think they are.”
“You going to be okay?” he asked.
“No one thought badly of Sam for going home last night,” she said.
“It’s always easier to handle a breakup when
you’re the first one to find someone,” Jason said. Is that what this was? A breakup?
“What do you know about breakups?” Samantha asked.
“Either nothing or everything, depending on your definition,” Jason said, grinning.
“Stop having so much fun,” Samantha said.
“Couldn’t possibly.”
She growled, and he rubbed his ribcage where she had thumped him one. She deserved that. She went to stand in the front window, aware, foot by foot, as Sam drove closer.
<><><>
Jason leaned against the staircase, watching Samantha. He looked up as the Cruiser pulled into the driveway, then frowned.
“That was the other car,” he said. “I didn’t recognize it.”
“What?” Samantha asked.
“Doris said she had a full house. I saw Tanner’s car, and I saw another one I recognized, but I didn’t recognize hers.” He grinned as the woman got out of her car. “Stay in here for a few minutes and get it together.”
He walked out the front door.
“Caroline,” he said. She smiled at him.
“Good to see you, Jason.”
“I didn’t know it was you taking up the room Sam would have been sleeping in,” Jason said. She grinned.
“Obviously I recognized you two.”
“How come you didn’t stick around and say hi?”
“You were out working in the back yard with a pretty girl I hadn’t seen before,” Caroline said. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
Jason glanced at Sam, who was staring at the house. Samantha opened the door and came out. Jason looked at Sam, then held up an arm.
“This is Sam. Sam, this is Caroline.”
Samantha nodded at the woman, and Caroline smiled.
“That must be confusing. So you’re with Jason?”
Samantha opened her mouth, tongue playing over her teeth as she looked for an answer.
“Not really. No.” She paused. “No, not really at all.”
Caroline laughed.
“Well, sure, it’s not like anyone is ever actually with Jason.”
“So…” Samantha said. “You’re… a…”
“Caroline is a Ranger, yeah,” Jason said.
“You’re really good,” Caroline said. “How do I not know you?”
“I…” Samantha started and paused. “I wasn’t trained by a Ranger.”
“So…” Caroline looked at Sam. “Does she…”
“She knows about demons. And witches,” Jason said. “Tracks them down, same as us.”
“Really? There are other people out there who do that?” Caroline asked.
“More than you know,” Samantha said.
“Huh.”
“We just came home to drop off a car and get changed,” Sam said. “I’m taking Caroline to dinner.”
“Oh,” Jason said. “Well, go on, then. We’ll see you guys later.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Caroline said to Samantha.
“Yeah, you, too,” Samantha answered.
“I’d like to get to know you, if we’re both in town for a little while,” Caroline said. Samantha raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah. Sure. That’d be great.”
Caroline waved and followed Sam into the house. Jason laughed once.
“Well, I think that went well.”
<><><>
Samantha slept with a pillow, when she slept with him. Curled up with it in her arms, it made her take up a lot more space in the bed, and he was aware that it was a defensive tactic. She was sitting on the couch like that, now.
Jason’s phone vibrated and he took it out. He had a text message.
Are you coming? it read. He put it away.
“What is it?” Samantha asked, muffled through the heavy fabric of the couch cushion.
“Alexander wants to know if you’re going to come play tonight,” Jason said. She dropped her chin deeper into the cushion.
“What should I do?”
He sighed.
“Let’s go.”
<><><>
“I knew Doris and Arthur were important to you two, but I didn’t ever hear the whole story,” Caroline said. Sam nodded.
“Yeah, they practically raised us, after we left my aunt and uncle,” Sam said.
“I’m so sorry about Arthur,” Caroline said. Sam picked up another bread stick and took a bite, thinking.
“It still hurts. And I feel bad, because I miss him more than I miss my own dad.”
“Distance,” Caroline said. Sam nodded.
“Yeah.”
“You guys are welcome to stay with my parents, if you’re ever up north,” Caroline said. Sam frowned.
“I didn’t know they had a waypoint.”
“No, when my dad retired, my mom wanted out. All the way out.”
“Can’t blame her,” Sam interjected. She nodded.
“Yeah. But a few of my friends stay there, sometimes. Dad’s still as sharp as he ever was, so I don’t worry about them any more than anyone else. What about Doris?”
“Hmm?”
“Who is taking care of her?”
“I think Carson and Tanner try to be around more, but she learned a lot from Arthur, over the years. I don’t think anything is going to take her out without a fight.”
Caroline smiled, dropping her hand on to the table. Sam wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or accident that her fingers ended up touching his.
“So… I have to ask,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“Sam. Have you two…” She wagged her head in an unspoken you know.
Sam paused and took a breath.
“No.” He thought, remembering, and shook his head. “No, she told me at the very beginning that she wasn’t interested in anything with me.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Caroline asked.
“What?”
“What kind of a girl meets you and says, I am absolutely not interested?”
“She’s got history. It’s kind of complicated.”
“But she sleeps with Jason just fine?”
“Why are you asking this?” Sam asked. She shook her head.
“Sorry. That was over the line. It’s just, you travel with a pretty girl. I had to ask.”
“What if I had said that we had been together for a while, but it was over?” Sam asked.
“I’d worry. That you weren’t over her.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. She rested her chin on the back of her hand.
“She’s pretty and she’s good - I can definitely tell she’s good - Rangers’ heads have been turned by less.”
“Are you accusing me of infidelity on our first date?” Sam asked.
“Is this a date, then?” she countered.
“I don’t know. I kind of thought it was.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” She sat back in her chair. “How is it that two people can know each other as long as we have, and then just, suddenly, one day…”
“We never actually talked,” Sam said.
“I guess we didn’t.”
Sam watched her as she picked at her food for a minute.
“So have you ever worked with other Rangers, or are you always on your own?”
<><><>
The lights spun; the music brawled and thumped; other dancers slammed unapologetically into her. She hit back with equal gusto, rolling in hard motion with Alexander, closer than they usually danced. With the sea-change of the crowd, as some stranger lost his balance or another careened uncontrolled into them, Alexander and Samantha would find themselves dancing body to body, and every time she sprung away slower and less-convincingly. Eventually, they just moved together, one continuous arc of muscle in the music. There was nothing magic about it. She knew how he moved and he knew the same of her, and it just fused together into a new dance.
She forced herself to come up for air from time to time to check on Jason. He had hated the club the moment he saw it.
“Fully of yup
pie gangsters,” he had said. “Guppies.”
Despite it, though, he was getting a lot of attention from the young women, even joining the mass chaos on the dance floor a few times for the prettier, more athletic ones. And Alexander had been right about the music and the dancing. The place wasn’t made for people to rub up against each other as a preface to drunk sex. It was about the dancing and the music. She felt at home in a way she never had before.
They found a table, they talked. Jason laughed. She danced again. She danced with Alexander. She danced with Jason. She danced with a pair of women in tight black pants and bright tank tops who sang. She sang with them.
She danced with Alexander again, losing visibility to the shape of his motions in his black camo pants and black tank top, then he was behind her, hand curled around her hips, fingers flat over the front of her jeans, nose in her hair, breath rolling in cool currents down the side of her neck. She felt his chest rise and fall, and they rocked, slowly, two… three… four… then he squeezed her and let her go, breaking into the next phrase of the music with sharp, hard motions, and she was gone again in a world of music that was words and dance that was language.
She begged off earlier than the night before, physically exhausted. Jason and Alexander shook hands.
“You guys in town another night, or are you leaving?” Alexander asked.
“Depends on whether we get a call,” Jason told him.
“Let me know where you go, okay?” Alexander said to Samantha. She nodded.
“Yeah. Don’t wander off without saying goodbye.”
He grinned.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
In the parking lot, Alexander opened the passenger door to the Cruiser for Samantha.
“See you soon,” he said. She nodded and smiled as he closed the door. Jason got in and pulled out of the parking lot. Samantha wove her fingers behind her head, stretching through her shoulders as she stared up at the sky out the window.
“He’s a good guy,” Jason said.
“Yeah.”
“I kind of hate that,” Jason said. She closed her eyes, feeling the motion of the car in her chest, and sighed.
“I get it.”
“Sam have a good night?”
“Yeah.”
“You okay with it?”
Don’t really know what else to be,” she said.
“Yeah. I get that.”
They got back to the house and Jason let them in. Samantha frowned.