Alphas and Mortals (Book 2 in the Alphas Trilogy)

Chapter 5: Nightwing

I couldn't dwell on her. Like she had said, this was not an official relationship. But oh how I wish it was. She was an Alpha, though, and seemingly, one that was following the rules better than the past Alphas. So I gave her credit for that, but I was certain she was the one this time. Like, soulmate certain. And I'm not surprised, ha, I'm happy about this. She's the best girl anyone could fall in love with. But the catch was that my girl wasn't into me the same way. She didn't really want a relationship, and I get that after what happened to Blaze from when Hell found out, possessed her and caused his murder. After that kind of experience, and to still relive that guilt over and over must be horrible. So like a gentleman, I knew to give her space. But it was fucking hard and she-. Wait a minute. She had told me several hours ago she had something to do, but now it was almost morning again, and there was no sign of her anywhere in Gotham. Doing patrol this late was making me lose sleep, and if you want to know what happens when I'm fully sleep-deprived, just ask Bruce. He does know me better than most people that I'm friends with. But he didn't even want me near her, so if I talked to him about this, he might get really mad at me, and since I'm not really in the mood to deal with that, I made up my mind not to tell him. Instead I went back home to check in with sleep and to figure out where Hana had gone. In the somewhat morning.

When I woke up, I realized that just like Hana had the other morning, I woke up at noon. Though it technically wasn't morning, it was noon, but still, I hadn't realized I had slept in so late. I was about to sleepily walk over and make coffee, but the sound of a portal opening stopped me in my tracks. I whirled around and saw the Alpha step through the portal, looking a bit off.

"Hana? What's going-"

She cut me off by placing her palm over my mouth. Startled, I made no attempt to remove her hand, just stood there awkwardly.

"I have a favor to ask from you, Grayson," she replied to my cut-off question. I made a small noise of acknowledgement.

"I need your help with um, something."

She removed her hand from my mouth and I let out a breath.

"What?"

"....Feelings."

I raised one eyebrow.

"Feelings? From what?"

"Not from. For."

For some reason, a sneer started to form on her lips then quickly her face slipped into a blank expression. I narrowed my eyes but I didn't comment on the strange expression change.

"What do you need to talk about your feelings for?"

She raised an eyebrow at me, a bit miffed at my improper grammar.

"That's improper-"

"No it's not," I retorted, instantly in denial. Her blank expression faltered for a moment at my sudden sharp retort to a near sneer, but she reined it back again.

"So, what is it?"

"How do I handle the feeling that feels like love, Dick?" she asked, her eyes softening. I relaxed.

"I don't know, it's different for everyone, Hana," I responded. I watched as her eyes darkened in anger and something else was lurking behind her blank expression. Something that went beyond her control.

"Is something happening that I should be aware of?" I asked, keeping an wary eye on her.

"No," she muttered, but she didn't quite look me in the eye for that one. And speaking of body parts, I noticed there black veins on her throat, not spreading, not receding, just laying there, as if they were just simply tattoos.

"Nice tattoos, Hana," I spoke, rather coldly, startling myself. Hana snapped her head up, with a beautiful hair flip.

"Um. Sure. I guess. Thanks." 

"Or do you not like them?"

Hana shrugged, but avoided my gaze, and instead, abstractedly rubbed her throat. The black veins began to spread down onto her chest and disappeared past her neckline.

"There's something wrong going on, isn't there? Those tattoos are not actually tattoos. Something's possessing you."

"There's nothing possessing me, Dick, I'm fine," Hana snapped, finally meeting my gaze.

"You don't look fine," I retorted, getting frustrated. Her eyes narrowed and I saw them glaze over into blackness, and it looked horribly creepy.

"I. Am. Fine," Hana spat, looking beyond mad.

"I knew I shouldn't have you asked you for help. Fuck this. I'm leaving, and you won't stop me," Hana spoke, her voice layering at the end of her sentence; layering into something creepy. She opened a portal to somewhere I didn't recognize, a dimension of some sorts, stepped through and closed it shut. I didn't stop her, because something was blocking me from taking a step towards the spot she had just vanished through, but the moment the portal had closed, the strange feeling vanished, and I could step forward again.

"Shit, shit, shit. I have to call someone who knows about...possession."

I quickly pulled my phone out of my back pocket and dialed a number I'd thought I had deleted from my phone, because of something that this person I was calling had done. I took a deep breath and pressed call. I waited there for a few moments as I let the phone ring then it picked up. It crackled a tiny bit then smoothed out and a refined, sophisticated woman's voice spoke.

"Hello, may I ask who's calling?" the voice spoke. I rubbed my eyes then replied.

"Yeah, hey, it's Dick Grayson."

There was a pause then she spoke again.

"Hello, Dick Grayson. How may I help you today?" she asked.

"I need some...help," I managed to say calmly.

"Help with what?" the woman asked.

"Meghan, is there a chance I can just say this to you in person? It's difficult to talk about over the phone."

There was another pause.

"Of course. Where would you like to meet and at what time?" Meghan responded.

"Um. Can we meet at, um, your favorite café? And um, around 5?"

"The café is open until 4, Dick. But we can meet there at 3:30. If that suits you, of course."

I took a deep breath then said yes.

"Splendid. Today?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll see you then. Good-bye," Meghan replied then hung up. I sank down to the floor, regretting my call already. Meghan was a former assassin who had special abilities that I really didn't want to have to interact with again. If a certain VK had heard about her, I'd be dead, and Meghan would be laughing about my death, because something had happened a long time ago, rather a few years ago, that could've killed me. Meghan had told me she regretted it deeply, but for some reason, would have the hint of a smile every time she spoke about it. If Shadow had discovered her beforehand, the event would've killed me, and that smile would be a laugh. I didn't want to have to deal with it ever again. But unfortunately, she was the only person I knew that could help me out with the Alpha situation.