Can Anybody Find Me?

~~ This is my mental image of Elonore. Down the right hand side -->~~

Elonore sat at the bar, back to the crowd of people seething around her and drank her beer. It was cold and wet and free, making it better than nothing. Being around this many people still bothered her, but she'd learned to deal with it. After her father's death, she'd been through enough to officially end any chance at a normal life.

First of all the doctors had discovered what her fahter had done to her. That'd gotten the psychologists out, all wanting to test her state of mind. Secondly the police investigation into her act of self defence eventually made it into the news and then Lone had really been uncomfortable. Everyone in the city had known then, what had been done to her, knew how dirty she was, how tainted. She had left after the police had declared it a 'clean kill', obviously in self defence. She took the General and drove, no destination in mind at all, but needed to go somewhere that no one knew her. No one would look at her with pity or horrified disgust.

She'd ended up broke in a bigger city, with no friends, no family and no clue what to do to survive. She'd spent the last of her money in a seedy bar on the only meal she'd had that day. She ate slowly, planning on sleeping in her car again when a fight had broken out behind her. She'd felt it coming, with the way their auras had changed colour and texture, had moved out of the way to not get involved when the violence broke loose. But then one of them slammed into her table, knocking her meal to the floor and she lashed out. In a moment she had both drunk men flung out the door, completly lost on how she'd kicked hte shit out of them.

The bar tender had called her over afterwards and passed her battered $10 back. 'For the good show'. He had said laughing. She'd taken it back without arguing and turned to leave when he called her back. And then he told her something interesting. That she could make good money in the fights. This city had a healthy underground fighting ring where amateur boxers and MMA wannabes could pound on each other and get paid to do it. So she'd agreed to let him set it up. That was how Larry became her agent. He would go around and find when hte fights would be, setting up events and then bringing in the bets while she fought.

Elonore didn't win all the fights, but she won most of them, and often against long odds. It seemed that the more aggressive her opponent was, the faster and harder she brought them down, showing no hesitation between male or female combatants. And the money started to come in. It wasn't legal, of course, but it was a living. She'd slept in her car until she had enough cash to get a simple apartment room in a halfway decent building. Her next door neighbor was a second rate escort, barely a step above prostitute.

'Belle' as she called herself, would have clients that called her and they'd always come over to her place for the fun. But one of her regulars got jealous one day and decided that if he couldn't have her to himself, no one would have her. Lone had heard him hitting Belle and had gone over, kicking in hte door to stop him. Then she threw him out the window. It was only the second 온라인카지노게임 and he survived the fall, but it convinced him to stay away. So Belle had made herself Lone's best friend of sorts. Lone wasn't much into talking about her past, and still had trouble around people, but she learned to ignore that part of her brain unless she was using it. In a fight, she was learning to use the changes in a person's aura to read what they were going to do. And she'd learned that the aura a person had in general was like a personality guage. Belle was a drowsy magenta, sex and lust, vanity and ignorance, but she was a good friend. Once she knew Lone wasn't a rival escort, she would come over and share some of her baking, Lone would do laundry with her and generally acted like this was all normal. After a fight they'd always go for drinks until the pain faded and Belle would help stitch Lone back up. And if a regular got too rough, Belle would bang three times on the wall and Lone would run over to help.

Between Larry and Belle, they managed to get Lone into a home, a job and a way of life completely unlike her old one.

"The next fight is tomorrow night." Larry said, passing her another beer on a coaster. She nodded thanks and picked up hte beer, slipping the coaster into her pocket. It would have the address and time on it. One of hte fights last month had gotten busted by police and several people arrested. Lone had told Larry at the last moment that she wasn't gonig to fight and had left, dragging him with her complaining. But it'd saved both their necks.

Lone looked at the mirror behind hte bar, looking for a familiar face. Every now and then she'd get a glimpse of his face, a flash of him and hten gone. Her shadow man never showed up anymore. It made her feel stupid and foolish, hoping for an apparation that she'd said good bye to. But he'd been the one constant in her life that wasn't painful and it hurt something deep inside her to not have him there. She even thought she'd seen him in the flesh once, on a motor cycle at a red light. But she'd ran out of the store she was in, only to see that it wasn't him.

Belle flounced over, dressed just this side of trashy. She had on wet looking tights and an off the shoulder, short sleeved crop top. It was like an even sluttier version of Sandra D from Grease. Her peroxide blonde hair was even pouffed out a la 50's bouffant and she had scarlet lips to match her shoes. "Hey Lono, what's kicking?" she asked, kneeling on the stool and leaning on the bar. It gave the crowd of men a wonderful view of her tight ass, while at the same time giving any guy looking in the bar mirror a view down her cleavage. Belle was never one to pass up the chance to mix buisness with pleasure, even on her 'day off'.

"Not much. Apparently I have hte night shift tomorrow." Lone said, indicating the fight tomorrow night.

"Damn, I was hoping we could catch the Supernatural Marathon on tv  tomorrow. Jared is goregous." Belle swooned. Lone smiled with the corner of her mouth.

"You know Jensen is the only one for me." Lone replied dryly, playing along.

"But I like them tall, dark and handsome." Belle pouted playfully. "And Jensen is just too short."

"You also like them rich." Lone added in.

Belle laughed, sounding both innocent and lasquivious. "True enough. My standards aren't too high. How about you Lono? What does a man have to do to win your heart?" she asked, sipping at the girly cocktail Larry set in front of her. He pointed out the gentleman who'd bought it for her. Belle winked at him and sipped the drink.

Lone recognized one of Belle's regulars and realized this was a buisness transaction. "Go forth and conquer my pretty coquette." she gestured to Belle and slapped her on her ass as a joke. Belle smiled and gave Lone a kiss on hte cheek.

"You're going to have to tell me one of these days. Your type of guy, I wanna know if I can hook you up." she breathed and then slipped away to establish her rendevous with the regular.

Lone sat back against the bar, a memory sitting next to her. "My dream guy?" she said softly to herself. "I'll know him when I see him again." she smiled sadly and finished her beer. She waved good bye to Larry and headed out the door, aiming for home and bed.

####

Gavin got out of the truck. He stretched, cracking his neck and back, relieving some of the tension. Two years of this shit. He'd never spent so long in human skin before and it was no longer the thrill it used to be. But once Elonore had decided to disappear, she fell off the damn globe. At least that's what it seemed like to the Angel tracking her.

He'd been through all of the cities surrounding her old home, but there was no sign of her. He followed ghost's whispers and rumours from fantasms. Creatures neither of the Upper nor the Lower were bribed into talking to him, all in the vain hope for a clue. And hten one day he'd gotten word that she might be out this way. A dark and dreary city, violence and gangs, buisnessmen and politicians.

Gavin walked away from his pick up truck and walked over to the clerk to rent a hotel room. He'd find her here, he was sure of it. She'd changed so much that he wasn't sure that it was her she felt, clouded away and hidden. But he knew she was here, could feel that faint connection to her flare up randomly, as if he walked where she had once been. But somehow she'd closed herself off and he couldn't trace it back to her.

The high tech cell phone in his pocket chirruped for attention. His link to the incorporeal plane and some of the less...human denizens of this world. "Gavin here, go." he picked up and said.

"Gavin, it's Roy." the gargoyle's voice was rough and grainy. Gavin didn't say anything, just waited, knowing his silence would get this conversation over with faster than any words of encouragement. "Ah... I've heard little birdies telling me you're looking for a girl. Damaged goods as they say. If you're trying to save her from the Tempters, you gotta check out the Parlour on Main st. It's where all the recruiters gather, feeding off the idiot sheep."

Gavin walked into the hotel room, phone pressed to his ear. "Address?" he asked, grabbing the complimentry pen and pad of paper the hotel had on the bedside table. He wrote down the information and hung up without saying goodbye. Roy was a decent guy, even if he was a gargoyle. Alive in hte darkness, he was statue rigid in hte sun's light. His inability to bear the light would usually make him one of those mastered by the Descended, but he ignored all the politics and went his own way. He helped run aways make their wasy back home, gave a safe haven for those fleeing from danger and kept his ear to the ground to hear about any big events stirring.

The exhausted Guardian collapsed onto the bed, asleep almost as soon as he hit the pillows. His body was stronger, faster and more able to endure than any humans, but even it had its limits. So he rested, planning to grab food and see if he could find the Parlour after his body recovered from being on the move for nearly a week straight. Even after almost two years of searching, he still felt the driving urgency of finding her. He had lost not a single moment doing anything else thank trcking down bad leads on her whereabouts, wasting time. He needed to make sure she wasn't already lost.

####

Elonore watched her opponet's aura for flares. The guy was good, calm and deliciously dangerous looking. He was not much taller than she was and shaved his head bald. His body was tightly packed with muscles and a blondish mustache and goatee gave his face a little flair. It was his bright blue eyes that were startling and attractive, they were full of passion and an honest intent. His aura was a minty green, smooth as silk and unruffled despite the battle raging between them.

He crouched low, the muscles writing, making his dual dragon tattoos dance on his back and chest. He wore jeans that were tight enough to stay on without a belt, but loose enough to move in, and he swiped at her, refusing to directly engage. He was trying to wear her out, hits that landed weren't full power, but neither were they easy to shrug off after almost an hour of circling each other. The audience was loving it, screaming and cheering, bets gonig higher and higher as these two evenly matched opponents battered at each other.

She saw a darker green flood into his aura and knew this next attack would be his hardest, the intent to take her down. She side stepped his fist, feeling the air kiss past her face in a rush, grabbed his wrist and pulled forward, bringing him off balance. She was about to land a heavy hook across his face when she spotted a jarring yellow aura starting to creep up around hte building they were in. "COPS!" She bellowed, pulling her fellow fighter after her.

The crowds didn't wait for confirmation, they heard her, even over the din of the fans and everyone scattered. Elonore pulled her opponent along behind her, wanting to make sure that he wasn't one of hte poor souls rounded up. And he didn't voice a complaint, following without hesitation as he wove through crowds to where Larry was waving at her, ready with a get away car in the back. Sirens sprung to life and police officers started to rush in, hoping to ambush hte place, but it was too late to get the bulk of the people. Only those that had been too slow to get out right away were rounded up.

Lone shoved the other fighter into the back of Larry's van and dove in after, pulling hte door shut. And Larry calmly pulled out of the side alley, the van clearly marked as a supplies vehicle for his bar. The cops never even gave him a second look, thinking nothing of it for a bar owner to be bringing in supplies on a Wednesday night. Thursdays and Fridays were big nights in this area and everyone stocked up Wednesdays.

"Hey, thanks." the bald fighter said finally, smiling at her. Lone gave a brief smile back, looking him over when he wasn't paying attention.

"No problem. I hate to see a good fighter get pinched. I'm Lone." she offered her hand. He grinned at her, looking somehow roguish and playful.

"I'm Rimmon." he replied with an easy smile, shaking her hand. Amazingly enough, it didn't feel weird to her, having contact with someone she barely knew. His aura was back to luxurious mint green silk and he had an easy, open smile on his face. "You're very good in the ring." he admitted with ease. "I was pretty much used up when you pulled me out of the ring."

Lone smiled, a small part of her happy that someone found her worht praising. "Thanks. I have to admit it was a close thing though. I don't know if I could have kept gonig for another round." she confessed with a shrug. She spotted Larry watching htem in the rear view mirror with a smirk on his face and frowned at him.

"We're heading back to my bar, you wanna get dropped off somewhere or come in for a drink?" Larry asked Rimmon.

"Ah... I've got no where to be, so if you all don't mind I'll tag along." Rimmon replied. "Thanks for the invite." he added after a second.

"No problem, it's my pleasure." Larry said, voice happy.

Lone rolled her eyes, seeing where this was headed. Larry was like Belle, both of them wanted to see her with somone. They both complained that she was too distant and needed someone to help ground her. But despite the guys they both introduced her to, Lone hadn't felt like being around htem for long, let alone getting into a conversation with them.  So it must have been an early christmas for him to see Lone actually talking with another human being. But Rimmon made it easy by not expecting anything. He jsut talked about one of his earlier fights, stopping to let Lone put in her own comments and little tidbits of information.

The bar wasn't full, never really was on a Wednesday unless it was a  sports night. There were a few regulars floating around, eating food that was a little too greasy and salty to be called a real meal, and drinking their poison of choice. Jason bustled behind hte bar, putting away glasses and loading the fridge for THursday rush. Larry owned the bar and split the buisness with Jason. Jason was a genius at finding the cheapest prices for food and drink and getting them in, but he couldn't hack it in a big crowd. So on busy nights Larry took over, and on quiet nights Jason ran the joint. There were waitresses to serve the tables and drink girls floating around hte dance areas, helping behind hte bar and generally being eye candy. The name of the bar was Shades and all the girls wore a theme colour. Lilac, topaz, ruby, silver, etc... whatever they wanted to dress as, they took the colour of their costume as their name. It sounded weird to Lone at first, but once she saw how it worked it made sense. Those monochromatic costumes and makeup made it really easy to spot them to see if they were ok, and helps people find more drinks to spend money on. When the fights were gonig slow, Lone herself often worked behind hte bar or on hte floor, though the sea of people often had her dashing to the bar to get away from the crush. She had gotten looped into it one day when several girls bailed on Larry, on a Friday night. They had gotten a chance to go to a concert last minute and he was hurting for help. So she'd offered to lend a hand, but had no costume. Belle solved the problem by taking off her shiney copper dress and handing it to Lone, in the bathroom of course. So they traded clothes, Lone being less curvy than Belle, the dress fit longer and loser, making it less provocative. It was a halter that had a drop waist and a kerchief skirt, all shining copper red. And Belle had struggled into Lone's simple jeans and tshirt, both of which fit tightly to her curves and making the innocent outfit look like athlete barbie. So Lone became Copper on nights to pick up extra cash. In fact, since the cops had scrambled tonights job it looked like she'd be pitching in tomorrow and friday too.  

Rimmon chatted easily with Jason and Larry, not ignoring Lone but neither demanding that she add to the conversation. It felt good to just sit and drink a beer, holding an ice pack to her bruised shoulder. She watched the boys talk and really looked at Rimmon. He was still shirtless, and now that she wasn't in a ring, she could appreciate the sleek lines of his tattoos chasing across hard muscles. He looked bad ass and yet when he smiled his face was easy going and kind looking. He wasn't handome, nose was crooked, skin rough from past fights, but he was attractive in his own way, expecially when he smiled.

Elonore looked away before he could see her oogling him and spotted Larry grinning at her. He hadn't missed the interest in her gaze and she smiled and flipped him the bird. "I'm done for hte night boys. It was a pleasure to meet you Rimmon, have a beer on me." she said, sliding a fresh cold one over to him and heading to the door.

"Lone..." Rimmon said, turning after her. "Ah... thanks. See you later?" he made it a question. If he had asked her out she'd have said no flat out. But he made it an open ended offer.

"Sure." she agreed with a shrug and headed out, running to the car when she realized it was raining. She dove into the General and headed home, taking main street because the back roads were all under construction. She hated driving down main, there were just hoards of people lining hte streets, wandering out into traffic because they were too stupid to survive. She gritted her teeth and ignored the slowly moving traffic and looked around at hte cars driving with her. She was about to accelerate in a green when she thoguht she spotted her shadow man in a truck, driving the opposite direction. The same piercing, a familiar face but he didn't look her way and a car behind her blared its horn, making her pull back ot reality and drive home.

"Idiot. He's not real. He's definitly not driving a pick up truck and there is no way in hell that he's looking for you. Snap out of it." she muttered angrily to herself.

####

Gavin had woken up at sunset, the aches and pains gone and ready to get a move on. He wandered away from the hotel to pick up food and wolfed down a greasy mcdeath burger, fries and a drink, ignoring the woman behind hte counter eye raping him. Used to be that he would look for that kind of stare, but not anymore. He'd let the hair loose it's wild colours, once more brown and stubble scraped as he ran a hand over his face, wiping away crumbs. The tattoos and piercing were the same, but his face was more mature now, less reckless.

Food finished, he walked out before the young woman behind the food counter could strip and throw herself at him. He felt it building, her desire to run over to him and be wicked and he just wasn't able to be interested in it. He was getting closer, could feel it in a way that was undeniable. Climbing into his truck, it roared to life and he pulled away from the hotel and burger joints, following his directions to main st. He was driving slowly, trying to spot the club Parlour when a car horn drew his attention to the road again. A guy was gesturing madly at the retreating end of an ugly orange dodge and Gavin shrugged, looking back ot the buildings lining the street.

There it was, the infamous Parlour. He parked the truck off on a side street, not wanting to bother with finding a curbside spot closer and jogged over towards the club. It was the middle of the week, not the most opportune time to check out a club because it was a dead night. Still, there were enough people going in that he slipped in as part of the crowd, grateful that nothing could tell he wasn't another human. The club itself was a little more posh than he was expecting. There were leather booths, hard dark wood tables, brass railings and cocktail party dresses. His almost constant uniform of black BDU's and combat boots did not fit in at all, but thankfully he'd thrown a brown button up shirt over his tank top. He still wasn't as dressed up as everyone else, but at least he didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Gavin circled around hte people, moving easily since there wasn't a massive crowd of people. There were dancers out on the floor, groups lounging around and a line of bodies at the bar, but there was still space to move around without trodding on toes. He felt both relieved and frustrated when he picked up no trace of Elonore. She'd never been here, a good thing for her sake. But it also meant that he had no clue how to track her down in this city.

He could feel a Descended somewhere in the building but couldn't pinpoint who it was. As he could hide his special nature, so could they cloak theirs. This one wasn't as good or as practiced at hiding as he was, but he didn't want any of them to figure out he was here. Being a lone man in a club was a good way to stick out, so he found one of hte girls giving him an invitation with her eyes and sidled up to her, talking in a low voice so she leaned closer to hear over the music.

"Wanna dance?" he asked, and she bit her lip, blushing and nodding yes. He took her hand and pulled her into the crowd of dancers, hoping that watching eyes would go on past him now that he was just another person trying to get lucky.

The girl didn't want to be dancing at arms distance though and wiggled in closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing herself against his chest. She was taller than he normally went for, though that might have been the sky scraper heels she had on. Her blonde hair wasn't naturally light, but it suited her and she had it fluffed out in a retro style. Her dress was a 1950's cocktail dress, fitted in at the waist but flaring out into a full skirt that ended just below her knee. It was a cherry red and matched her lips.

"I'm Belle." she purred into his ear, no longer acting innocent. Gavin stayed quiet, dancing and hoping hte feeling of the Descended would go away. They weren't picking up on him directly, just looking over hte crowd to avoid trouble, but he wanted no evidence of his being here. So he held Belle closer to him, trying to ignore the urges her pressing against him woke in his body. It had been a long time and he pushed hte desire aside with a new found sense of discipline. It was just dancing, a cover to hide behind. He reminded himself. But the feeling of the Descended didn't fade, they were staying to watch and Gavin couldn't just slip away. This human in his arms was providing a mask to slip behind, and she eagerly swayed with her, rubbing against him in open invitation.

"Let's get out of here." Belle murmured, pulling Gavin along behind her. She held his hand and danced thorugh the crowd towards the door. He went along reluctantly, not wanting to give her the wrong idea, but grateful for the escape. Knowing htat at any second he could be discovered, even with his true nature hidden away was making him anxious to get out.

"My trucks jsut down the road." Gavin mumbled, hoping to get away from her.

"Could I bother you for a ride then?" she asked, as thunder rumbled overhead. He looked down at her and realized this wasn't a ploy, she had no coat, no umbrella and it was raining.

"Sure, come on, let's make a run for it." he offered, undoing his button down shrit and throwing it over her shoulders to keep her a little covered. Rain never bothered him, and it felt soothing to his jangled nerves as they ran for his truck. They hopped in, and he headed out, following her directions to the apartment building she lived in.

He pulled under the exterior awning and looked around. "Ah... do you know how to get to the Traveller's Inn from here?" he asked, more than a little lost. She lived towards the west end of down town and his hotel had been south of the city. In fact, he'd barely found main street even with Roy's directions to help.

"Umm, no I don't sorry." Belle shook her head, giving him an apologetic look.

"Damn." he swore. Ah well, he'd slept in the truck before, he'd survive another night in it.

"Do you want to come upstairs for a bit?" Belle offered. "We can try the yellow pages, it usually has a map in it and we can hunt down your hotel." she smiled.

Gavin nodded and Belle directed him around hte building to park in her parking spot. She had no car of her own and his truck looked shiney and new comparted to the battered orange dodge in the spot next to it. They ran inside, trying to dodge the rain drops and skidded through hte lobby to the elevator. Belle lived on the second floor, and as soon as they walked past the door to the stairs, Gavin felt his connection to Elonore flare up. It didn't die down as completly as before thoguh, it stayed stronger. She'd been here, and recently too. He looked around the empty hallways as if in hopes of spotting her in a shadowy corner.

He wasn't so lucky as to have that but he knew now that this was a place she'd been to recently. She might come back again. Maybe she even lived here? He felt hopeful for that and followed Belle almost eagerly to her door.

She mistook his attitude for anticipation and chuckled to herself. She hadn't been sure he was interested because he wasn't responding to her subtle cues but he seemed to almost rush her to the door. She opened the door to her small apartment up and turned on the lights. It was a bachelor style, all open concept and despite being small, it looked chic. She made enough money to cover rent and expenses easily and spent the rest on fun and design. The king size bed had black and silver comforters and soft looking scarlet pillow cases. There was a white divian style couch under the window that had silver metal accents and the kitchen had all stainless steal appliances.

Her clothes and job accessories were discreetly tucked away in a large cherry wood wardrobe and there were silver and black stools lining the kitchen counter, making it into a breakfast bar. She shot him a smoldering look over her shoulder. "I'm just gonig to use hte bathroom for a second, please make yourself at home." she offered.

Gavin swallowed, trying to ignore the blatant suggestion in her voice. He realized now what her offer to come inside meant, and his mistake in being eager to get inside. But he couldn't back out now, knowing that the girl he was tracking had been on this very floor. He couldn't pin point the feel of her though, it was almost like she'd been in this room itself, but that made no sense because obviously she wasn't here now or he'd see her. Maybe this used to be her apartment? That's explain the strong feeling of her being nearby.

He heard the shower running but the bathroom door was still opened a crack. "So you never told me your name." Belle called out from the shower, luring him closer to the door. Gavin stood just beyond the partially open barrier and shifted nervously. His physical body was indicating that it'd really like to deal with some urges, but he was ignoring it.

"My name is Gavin..." he replied, trying to figure out how he could feel like Elonore was here when she obviously wasn't. "So how long have you lived here for, your apartment is beautiful." he asked.

"Oh... I moved to the city about 3 years ago. I had dreams of becoming a model." she replied, turning the shower off. She had a towel wrapped around her torso and another wound into her hair to dry it. She smiled as she heard him standing just on the other side of the door. Right where she wanted him. "Gavin, do you mind passing me my robe, I forgot to grab it from my wardrobe." she asked, letting the towel drop away from her. She could hear him wander over to get her robe.

Gavin opened the door to hand her the robe, thinking she'd have a towel on at least. But instead he saw her wonderfully naked and still a little damp from her shower. She was leaning a little forward, butt pushed out and up a tich and back arched, while she fixed the towel drying her hair. He nearly choked, seeing her like that. The hormones of his physical form screamed into life, taking over his better judgement and instead of closing his eyes, he looked at her.

She was unashamed of her nudity, and for good reason. Her body wasn't heavily curved, but instead was long and slender, with a roundness to hip and bust that was devastating to his self control. She smiled at him, a demure blush colouring her cheeks as she enjoyed seeing his reaction to her body. he'd been reluctant before, not aware of what she did for a living. But the moment she'd seen him, she'd wanted him. This wasn't about hte job tonight, no it was all about her. And now that his body was running the show instead of his brain, she walked over to him and took the robe from his fingers.

"Thanks." she said softly, pulling it on but belting it loosely. It wasn't much of a cover either, instead it was a soft, clingy silk that showed the lines of her body just barely out of site.

Gavin sucked in a breath as she stepped in close to him, placing a hand on his chest. She tilted her face a little and kissed him on the lips. He had his arms wrapped around her, holding her to him while he kissed back, making it a longer, deeper kiss. She didn't mind at all, and used the closeness to run fingertips down his chest to his stomach. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up, running fingernails teasingly against his treasure trail.

The Guardian Angel wasn't thinking straight. He had a job to do but hte demands of this body were not willingly letting go now that htey had control. He knew he should leave and find Elonore, but the hunger in his belly was not sated by food and demanded a different type of meal entirely. He tangled his hands in her short hair, trailing kisses from her lips to her jaw and down her neck. The robe was open again, leaving a naked line revealed down her front and he kissed to her collarbone.

Belle was in heaven, loving how each of his touches and caressed made a warm, electric glow jerk in her body. She wanted him to do more and never stop. But he paused as he kissed her neck, the image of a little girl in his mind's eye. The last time he'd given in to the body's urges she'd almost died. He wasn't willing to fail her again. "I can't." he said, pulling away from her pliant body.

"What?" Belle asked, confused and body wanting.

"I'm sorry." Gavin apologized and bolted for the door, nearly tripping over the threshold in his exit. The door unfortunately slammed shut behind him as he literally ran to the stairs. He hopped down the landing, skipping steps and making a racket as he fled. His body screamed at him to stop and go back but he dove into his truck and roared away, no clue how to get back to the safety of his hotel.

####

Elonore heard a rustle and a door slam from Belle's apartment. She stuck her head out the door to see the backside of someone run into the stair well and disappear. Belle's door opened and a bewildered face stepped out, not aware that her robe was still hanging open.

"Ah, Belle, I can see your piercing." Lone called out to her friend, indicating the hood piercing. Belle flushed and pulled her robe closed. "Bad date?" Lone asked, seeing her friend's disappointment.\

"Yeah I guess. It wasn't work. Just found this really hot guy at Parlour and decided to bring him home for fun. But just when we were about to get to the good stuff, he said she couldn't, apologized and ran away like I was poisonous." Belle walked over ot her friend's apartment and Lone let her inside without a word.

Belle was almost never rejected by guys and the few times it did happen, she always got hurt by it, assuming that there was something wrong with her. So Elonore let her inside and wrapped her salvation army blanket around her friend. She felt a weird thrum when she touched her friend though, never realizing that the golden cord that connected her to someone unknown was no longer so faint, glowing stronger and brighter now that they had been so close to each other again.