The Worth of a Coin (BxB)

Chapter 43

-Ruarc Brennan-

It was probably a bad idea that I was staying with Quan. Of course, I wouldn't tell him that. I enjoyed his company immensely and we had a lot of fun together despite the horrific situation we were in. What I didn't enjoy was the fact that we could be doing anything, and we would both be pulled away from our bodies and over to where Cappi was.

Quan and I had figured pretty early on that we shouldn't do anything important over the next few hours pretty quickly. I had just about pulled up to the supermarket car park when I was pulled away, needing to slam on the brakes to avoid crashing. We had just been transported to the middle of nowhere, listening to Quans' father drone on and on about the fire-creatures, which he didn't name. I was tired of supernatural people not naming things properly. The fire-creatures should just be called Pyropeople or something like that, but the only information we got was that they could regenerate. That was unless they were destroyed in their entirety, like Cappi had done earlier.

"I'm carrying all this home," I complained as Quan was at the self-checkout. I didn't think that it would be safe for me to drive the two of us home after the stunt that Cappi pulled. "We should be able to opt-out of this."

Quan snorted. "Like some sort of email subscription?" He asked me as he picked up a bag and collected his change. Luckily, he had his cane with him, or else we'd both be in trouble. He said that what Cappi was doing didn't hurt his vision any more than it was already damaged, since he wasn't using his own magic. I didn't quite believe him, but I also didn't really know how good his eyesight was without actively doing magic, so I didn't comment.

"Yes, we should have a spam folder in our minds." It had gotten rather windy since we had entered the supermarket, something I enjoyed significantly. I wasn't a fan when the weather was still and quiet. "So, how are you feeling about the whole family thing?" I asked hesitantly. It was a question I'd been wanting to ask since we had the meeting with everyone, or even since I'd told Quan about it.

"It still seems strange to me," Quan admitted after a while of silence. "I've grown up around family businesses, trust me when I say that I'm not intimidated or scared. I'm just out of my depth."

I laughed in disbelief. "You're not scared of a group of supernaturals who have zero problem breaking the law to get what they want?" I raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like a cop's worst nightmare."

"Once again, I'm an investigator. I deal with everything after bodies are found, or when bodies aren't found in some cases." He rolled his eyes. "I don't deal with ongoing crimes like drugs and stealing. I don't think that I personally have anything to worry about. It might seem a little selfish for a police investigator to say, but it doesn't personally affect me."

"Much," I added. "It does affect you when your father is killing members of a family, you're dating one of them, and you had to lock one up because they turned themself in."

"And it's made worse when it's the leader of the family." Quan sighed and shook his head. "Okay, yes, it affects me in those ways. I wouldn't say that they were totally negative."

I raised an eyebrow at him sceptically. "I'm beginning to think you're the kind of person who takes everything as it comes instead of worrying about possibilities. I don't know if that's normal for a police investigator, but I peg that as strange for a psychic witch."

Quan nodded his head. "It is very strange indeed," he agreed. "But that's probably why I do it. I want to pull myself away from any stereotypes of the title as much as possible."

"And by doing that you're risking your own wellbeing because you're not worrying about possible attacks or enemies," I argued as I scanned the street which we had just crossed onto.