Unwanted company

            “Where are you going?”

            Demetrius froze steps from the front door. He’d expected his mother would remain in the guard tower keeping his father company until the end of his shift.

            “Out to clear my head,” he said.

            “Are you alright?” Concern weighed her brows into a crease. “If school’s been too much, you don’t have to keep up with it. You can try again in another few decades when you don’t have so much on your plate.”

            He shook his head. “I made the choice and I don’t regret it. Just need a quick walk before I begin that calculus business. It gives me a headache.”

            His mother’s expression softened. “Demetrius…”

            “I’ll be back.” He hurried through the door before she could launch into a real interrogation. For the last week, he’d been intentionally elusive, seldom remaining home and seldom willing to have conversations with his family. It had to be done. For as good as he was at detecting lies, Cassidy could detect truths—and the absence thereof—with equal fervour. There were things he still needed to keep to himself. If any of them found out Jamie’s memory hadn’t been wiped it would be a grim affair for the girl who had only just stopped flinching every time he approached her at school. 

It was better his mother believed he was unaccustomed to the rigours of education after such long absence. She would still worry but it lessened suspicion.

            Demetrius sprinted through the empty street until he came to Jamie's house.

            Something was wrong. The boy approached carefully, sticking to the shadows as he moved.

            An unfamiliar scent greeted him as he rounded the corner. His fur bristled, standing on end. Someone else was there…someone…who wasn’t human.

            Demetrius scaled the tree by Jamie's balcony, landing with a soft thud. The door that still hung off its hinge was shoved inward at an odd angle. On the inside, he found Jamie by her window, a dark figure hovering over her.

            He stretched to full form immediately, his tail and ears unfurling as he darted across the room.

            Demetrius grabbed the man by the collar, swinging him around to face him.

            “You,” the man said, his lips curling into a derisive smile. “What’re you doing here?”

            Demetrius looked from the man to Jamie, noting a gash by her shoulder that oozed dark red liquid. The scent of her blood filled his nostrils, threatening to distract him. His head spun dizzyingly, forcing him to concentrate through the haze that had begun to settle. Sapphire eyes flashed crimson but he managed to force them blue once more.

            A scent like that…her scent. It nearly stripped him of his control. “What’ve you done?”

            “Nothing you don’t want to do,” the man said.

            With the last of his resolve, Demetrius took firm hold of the man, tossing him back through the balcony door. “Stay here,” he told Jamie before following the man out.

            Below, he saw him stagger back to his feet but wouldn’t allow him to recover. Demetrius leapt from the balcony, taking him back to the ground. The pair tussled in the dark. Once more, sapphire eyes went red as a savagery took him. 

            He slashed at the intruder, ripping a tear along his stomach and down to his thigh. The man rounded on him, cutting into Demetrius’ neck and left shoulder. The blow nearly took his arm off, but he managed to recoil in time.

            Demetrius pulled back, using the other man’s weight against him to make him unsteady. He got him up against the tree, his claws digging into his neck.

            “You’re in violation of article 13 of the conduct reform.” Demetrius struggled to catch his breath, his energy seeping from him as readily as his blood did. “It’s prohibited to hunt humans in densely populated areas.” And hunting his target nonetheless. It wouldn’t do, it wouldn’t do at all.

            The man spat in his face. “You guardians are all the same.”

            Demetrius wiped the spit away, digging his claws deeper into his neck in response. “Why this house?”

            “A bloody smirk formed about the man’s lips. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

            Demetrius’ eyes narrowed.

            “You’re not gonna kill me.” The man coughed blood.

            “Why her?”

            “Shove your questions up your ass, you self-righteous—”

            “Why her?”

            The man flew into a fit of coughing, choking now on the blood that seeped from his neck. The sputtering only served to enrage Demetrius. In one swift motion, he ripped the head clean from the body, allowing it to fall into the well-manicured grass.

            Demetrius took an extra moment to compose himself before placing a call back to the guard tower to inform them of the situation. The lawless never failed to set his blood to a boil and it often had to do with the disregard they showed him. He was new, still only a child at seventeen and often underestimated for his relative lack of experience. 

            Trusting someone would be sent over for the cleanup, Demetrius climbed his way back up the balcony. He looked a sight, covered in blood and deep lacerations but his concern was for the girl who had truly not moved an inch from where he’d left her.

            “Are you alright?” He approached slowly, stopping each time she recoiled. He would let her set the pace but the gash by her shoulder had been severe. He couldn’t afford to leave her be.

            Shaking, she could only manage a small nod of her head.

            “Was he alone? Did you see others?”

            She shook her head.

            “I…I need to take a look at your shoulder,” he said, inching closer once more. “I just wanna make sure you’re alright.”

            He kept his eyes on her as he continued to inch forward. Gingerly, he reached a hand forward, trying to feel along her neck and shoulder to assess the damage. The skin was still slippery from the blood, but he could feel no wound.

            “I thought…but you’d been cut.”

            Jamie raised a shaky hand to feel at the area he’d just inspected. There was a shadow of surprise when she too felt the absence of what had been a deep gash but shock kept her relatively subdued.

            Demetrius ran his fingers reverently along her skin, searching out any other wounds that may have been missed. She was soiled but unharmed.

            Unable to maintain further restraint, he moved back to the balcony door to create some distance between them. 

            “Go get yourself cleaned up.” He said. “You don’t have to worry about him coming back; I took care of him.” Demetrius raised a hand to his own neck to ensure his wounds were closing up as they should. He’d lost a lot of blood and would need to go hunting within the week to avoid the consequences of such a fight. “Did he say anything? Anything at all?”

            It didn’t seem she would answer but then in the faintest voice, Demetrius heard her whisper.

            “…I found you…”