Prophecy: Tome of Embers

10. In a Heartbeat

Toby was just drying off from his shower when he heard the phone ringing. Normally he wouldn't have bothered, but with everything going on lately he worried that it might be important. He cursed under his breath as he barely wiped himself down before throwing down the towel and running to answer it. As soon as he opened the bathroom door and stepped out he saw that Austin had already beaten him to it. Toby stood there confused as Austin turned to see him, and when he did his face went beet red as his eyes drifted down. Fortunately the hotheaded hybrid wasn't the type to get embarrassed easily, and he flashed a quick smile before clearing his throat and heading to the bedroom. Austin gave it a second-mostly so he could stop blushing-before he followed.

"I thought you were at Myrna's." Toby posited, just zipping up the jeans he'd slipped into.

"Uh, yeah, I was, but she loaned me some books that I wanted to start reading." Austin answered, finding it incredibly hard to keep from going red again as he held out the phone. "That was Cliff calling, by the way."

"Did he find Nina?" Toby inquired, sighing a little under his breath while Austin shook his head back and forth to confirm that he hadn't. "Then it can wait," he went over to the mirror and stretched out his neck so that he could examine his face. Though the message had been delivered, Austin continued lingering there, watching him.

"Can I see your tattoos?" He finally asked, starting forward as if he already knew the answer. He did, and he was correct. In place of any verbal confirmation Toby merely turned so that his bare chest was facing him, knowing that all his tattoos were clearly visible in that way. "Will you tell me about them?"

"That one doesn't mean anything, it was just what the guy at the shop put on me." Toby informed him of the tribal band wrapped around his left arm as Austin touched it gently. "This arm over here is the true work of art, it started out with just this star here, on my wrist, then I kept adding to it and it went right up my arm."

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man I put away childish things." Austin smiled a little as he moved his fingers to feel the words that were transcribed over Toby's ribs. "I didn't think you were religious."

"I'm not, one of the old women who worked at the school I stayed at used to read verses to all the kids whenever she could get a chance. That one sort of stuck with me, I guess." Looking down at where the two of them were connected caused Toby to tense. "I never really understood how someone like her, who knew what was really out there, could still believe in God."

"That's not fair," Austin told him quietly, taking his hand back and using only his eyes to feel him out. "I still believe in God."

"You're joking, right? After everything you've been through, after demons and monsters and all the evil that you've faced you can still believe in that?" It wasn't Toby's intention to be harsh, though he felt that it came across that way, but he truly was baffled by the idea.

"If anything it's only made my belief stronger. How can you have been through everything that's happened to you, and still not believe that there's a greater good out there to balance all the evil? There can't be monsters without heroes, no demons without angels. Dark needs light, and evil needs good."

"Well from where I'm standing it's hard to see all the good. Where is it now, when we go day after day seeing so much death?"

"I get it, but just because it doesn't burn so obviously bright doesn't mean it isn't there." Austin smiled, reaching over to touch his side again with just the tips of his fingers. They looked on at one another for a long while before he let his fingers drift up to the last tattoo-the number three that he had on his neck. "And what about this one?"