Path of the Necromancer - FACTION WARS

Chapter 3.6 - Ian

Ian opened the sliding door and joined Ember on the balcony, both of them having tired out their partners. She smiled up at him and scooched over so he could join her on the lounge chair. The balcony wasn't all that large. Wrapping around the corner of the apartment to connect the open plan living space with his master bedroom. Floor to ceiling glass made the place - or perhaps intended to make the space - feel larger than it really was. In reality, it simply meant the curtains were near perpetually drawn shut in the bedroom when Ian got his way. Pressed up in the crook of the gun-grey railing sat the new grill-smoker-dingus that looked slightly bruised by Grim's energetic attempts at DIY. Two elastic-wire lounge chairs flanked a plastic deck table - in patent deck furniture white - pretty much summed up the decor of his renovations. Ember was sipping something that promised to be toxic to a lesser being, which she put aside when he emerged. Sildling into the space she'd created for him, and wrapping an arm about her thinly clad shoulders, he savoured the natural scent of her hair as she half lay atop him.

"How was she?" Ember asked with a giggle, snuggling into his embrace.

He rubbed his hand from her shoulder to elbow and answered with a chuckle, "I never knew Spiritfire could be used that way..."

She laughed at his playful antics. A moment of silence passed.

"Dani will fit in nicely I think. She feels lost. She wants to fight the 9th Order, but doesn't know where to begin." Warded words entwined with their lacing of fingers. "I told her she should take some time to find herself first."

The distant sounds of traffic floated around them. "Find herself?" He eventually asked.

Ember nodded. "She's been training her whole life. She's been focused on one task so long she never got the chance to grow into her own person. We'll have to find some way to occupy her."

He laughed, she frowned. Realisation flushed and she joined him before pinching him in mock anger. "I didn't mean it like that! Although, I do think it helps." The young Slayer's initial moments of hesitation and self-loathing echoing in her murmured words.

Ian hugged her tighter.

Ember commented, "You said the city's new police task force is understaffed."

"Yeah..." He said slowly. "Sarah said the main problem the Chief's facing is finding people who've experienced supernatural events."

Ember ran a fingernail across her eyebrow. "Who?"

"The Officer who got caught up in all this back in my hometown." He outlined. "The one who walked me out?"

"Ah, well; Dani might be able to fit in there." She voiced her notion.

"You want an assassin to become a cop?" He asked, she askance. She might as well be asking for investment in bumble-bee slippers.

She 'playfully' slapped his bare chest hard enough to leave a handprint, "I was thinking as more of an independent contractor." She defended her idea. "If they're as desperate as you said they are, they might go for it."

As he rubbed the stinging reminder to respect feminine intellect, he tried to mull over the image Ember was painting. In a way it had some appealing prospects, not least amongst them the ability to have someone guarding his childhood friend. A pang of guilt queased his gut. He didn't want to think about Rachel right then. Weary cogs cranked into motion as purculating endeavours came together. If it was going to work - much like everything in this climate of supplication - the Sponsors would need to be involved.

"I'll talk to Solomon and see if we can't get them some more funding." He yawned.

"Why would he want to help them?" She wondered.