Big thanks to macktosh for the awesome job editing and keeping the story in line. Also humble thanks to you, whoever you are, for following the story from Chapter 01 and hopefully beyond this one.
Hope you enjoy.
CHAPTER 02
Aaron Bokipse and Bower had spent the better part of their afternoon in town, walking from one place to another randomly in the hopes that Aaron would pick up on something...anything...unnatural. Hot, sweaty and tired, the grumpy little space mage had started to give up hope when Bower suggested they rent a vehicle.
From then on the pair drove in ever-expanding circles from the center of town. Bower sat hunched behind the wheel, his domed head nearly brushing the ceiling. Aaron - who didn't have a driver's license and had laughed at any means of transportation that was slower than instant - now sat next to the Hunter with his legs kicked up on the dashboard and the air-conditioning on full blast.
Aaron had been more than content to doze off as Bower drove, but twenty minutes into their joy ride he had felt a tickle. It was a minor blip on the radar of his magic senses. It was a Gray, he could tell, the lowest of the low and on any other day he would have barely even registered it but it stood out based solely on the fact it was the only magical pulse around. It also fit with the information from the werewolf Alpha. Most Tinkerers had little in the way of magical clout.
"Point the way," Bower had said as he noticed the mage sit up straight from the corner of his eye.
Aaron's keen senses had led them here. To this double story farmhouse with its old rusted blue truck and large barn.
"This sure feels like the place," Aaron said to Bower.
The pair stood together on a dirt road in the dark. They had parked the rental just off the main road, well out of earshot, on Bower's suggestion. The Hunter was falling back on old habits as his tread lightened and the joy of cornering their prey was sending pure adrenaline through his system. The only source of light was the moon and a single glowing bulb above the door.
"Let's go say hello," Aaron said, eager to be done with the job so he could get home and sleep.
Bower held out an arm to stop his companion as he surveyed the compound. Aaron, picking up on his nerves, squinted into the dark. Bower didn't see anything suspicious. Aaron saw monsters hiding in all the shadows as his overactive imagination fed on his fear.
"Waddaya feel?" Bower asked, pitching his bass voice low.
"Just a kind of static. Magic's been used around here a lot...not strong magic...just constant. I'd guess that's from the Tinker. I feel the same thing whenever I'm around the compound's workshops. Nothing else though." Aaron watched Bower inhale and cocked an eyebrow. "You smell anything suspicious?"
"Metal. Gunpowder. Chemicals. Sawdust. Paint. Sweat." Bower grunted each one out. His gaze fixed on the barn before turning back to the house and he finished with, "Pizza."
"So a possibly gun toting hillbilly eating pizza?" the space mage said with a cocked brow.
Bower shrugged his shoulders and started walking towards the house. Aaron rushed to catch up, his early eagerness gone.
"Woah, hold up! Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, if there really is a Black in there and they're just sleeping...do you really want to wake them up? They could be grouchy." Aaron eyed the dark windows of the house suspiciously with an image of a hibernating bear rising from a coffin like Dracula going through his head for some stupid reason. "Besides, this isn't one of your Hunting missions. It's a recruitment job...mission?
Aaron quite liked calling it a mission if he was being honest. It made him sound like a dashing secret agent. Images of him in a fitted tux (taller and slimmer for some reason) flittered through his mind. Bokipse. Aaron Bokipse.
Bower, oblivious to the space mage's musing, ducked onto the stoop. The large man had to keep his head tucked down as the moths that bounced off the light kept fluttering against him, their wings tickling his bare scalp.
The sound of his hard knuckles was like gunfire in the silent night when they made contact with the wooden door, rattling it in its frame. He paused, long enough for Aaron to stare at him wide eyed, before knocking again. His sensitive ears picked up movement inside as someone stumbled around. Bower cocked his head, tilting his ear up. There was more movement followed by the heavy bass vibrations of a man talking followed by the quieter tones of women.
"Three," Bower grunted.
"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" Aaron started to chant. Nervous energy made him hop from foot to foot. "I've never tried to recruit a Black before. What if they say no? The Countess said I
had
to bring them to her though...can you force a Black? I mean...OH MY GOD!" He gasped. "What if they're all Blacks? Three Blacks!"
Bower placed his very large hand over the top of his friend's head, almost palming the entirety of his skull like a basketball. It was the equivalent of a shoulder pat with the benefit of being easier for the tall man to manage. Aaron was so miffed that he actually forgot to be nervous.
Light spilled from under the door and through the curtained window next to the duo. There was the sound of locks being disengaged and then the door swung open.
Aaron felt equal parts astonishment and jealousy when the occupants of the house were revealed. There was a shirtless man, showing off way too much toned body for Aaron's liking. He was large, almost as tall as Bower and just as wide at the shoulders but with less bulk and more lean rangy muscles. The loose basketball shorts he wore hung low on his hips. Aaron found himself distracted by a coin the man wore around his neck, and his senses tingled a little when he tried focusing on it.
The man's face was cast in shadows but the scowl was evident as he leaned one muscular arm against the door frame, effectively barring the entrance into the house. He glared at Bower, not an ounce of fear showing in his posture. Aaron was shocked to see Bower actually take a half step back. He was even more shocked to see Bower actually tense as if for a fight.
One of the most gorgeous women Aaron had ever seen stood behind the man. Curly red hair hung from a messy knot and she blew it out of her face with a frown. Her large vibrant green eyes were cold as ice as she glared at them. The woman wore a baggy shirt that hung loose on her, showing off one pale shoulder as it fell to the side. The shirt stopped just shy of her knees and Aaron tried not to stare at the sliver of creamy white thigh on display.
"What?" growled the man, his voice tight with irritation.
Before either of them could say a word though, the little redhead pushed the man aside, shooing him away from the door so she could get a proper look at the late night guests. The woman's gaze swept over a blushing Aaron - who now wished they had waited until the morning - before settling on Bower.
"Bow-wow?" the redhead said, her squinting eyes going wide as she got a good look at the large bald man.
Bower still hadn't taken his eyes off the man who answered the door. Therianthropes didn't sense power in the same way Mages did. They didn't see it, rather they felt it as an instinctive itch that let them know what they were dealing with. Bower liked to think of it as a sixth sense honed through years and years of life and death situations. That itch, coupled with a knack for self preservation that had kept him alive so long, told Bower one thing: danger.
At the woman's call he let his gaze flicker away from the man's face for a second. The unruly mess of red, lit like a halo of blood by the light inside the house and the single dim bulb above them, sparked a memory and he forgot all about the threatening man and his own instincts.
"O'Connor?" His rough voice cracked with emotion making Aaron blink in surprise. The space mage never knew Bower could show emotion.
