Sighted

Chapter 10: This Kid and His Big Mouth

Owen

      Our small apartment is a little crowded with the five of us. I've swiveled my chair to face the living room and Bowden is leaning against the desk behind me. His hand is draped over my shoulder, his thumb brushing against the skin exposed by the collar of my tee shirt. I don't really need his touch, my wound no longer causes me pain, but it's sort of become a habit.

      Alex is seated on the couch and when he glances at Bowden, I see him rub his hand over his chest. If it felt like Dylan was "screaming" at him, I can only imagine what it feels like for him around Bowden. I'm used to the constant pulse of energy that comes from being around supernaturals and I know that Alex will get used to it in time. The halfling is close by too, sitting next to him on the couch, still excited from today's events as only a kid could be.

      Gin is standing up a few feet in front of the couch. She hasn't fully looked up since we got home and her expression reminds me of someone on trial. I know that she's not looking forward to the upcoming conversation.

      The past two days have been intense. Taking care of any footage of us at the hospital, including the demon's car, was one of the bigger clean up jobs I've done in a while. Usually, Gin is the best at avoiding an exposure risk. No one could have predicted that the night would have progressed the way it did. Gin herself was shocked at how she behaved when she found her soulmate.

       We now know to focus on DemGen and find out what they're up to. Gin has been working herself ragged to do so. She hasn't slept since she woke up in the morgue. She has this fear for the doctor's safety that I can't begin to imagine, but she's running around like crazy, trying to cover everything. I know that what she's really doing is hiding from her feelings.

      Aside from telling me Alex is her soulmate, she hasn't spoken about it. I've known for years how she felt about getting a soulmate, but now that it's happened, I'm less sure of how she feels. It's obvious that she's already developed strong feelings for the handsome doctor, even though she doesn't want to admit it. The way she protected him shows that her feelings are far out of her control.

      Her borderline obsessive guard over him is also above and beyond anything I've ever seen, and I don't think she realizes it. She won't even let me hack into his home or cell, in order to keep him safe. She's protecting him from me.

      While she's been running herself ragged, I've slept very little. Its time consuming to reach out to all the contacts we've made in the last six years, plus verifying their locations. I'm dying to know how the system block works, and any spare moment I have has been spent working over it, when I've been at the apartment. Sometimes with Dylan keeping me company and other times I let the kid call Bowden over to keep him occupied. I've actually seen a lot of Bowden the past several days.

      My shoulder stopped hurting, but Bowden still finds way to gently touch my skin. The bracelet has always created within the demon a strong desire to touch, but I've never allowed him, or myself, to indulge in it. Now, I can't bring myself to resist and it's such a small touch, nothing sexual at all, just comfort.

       Bowden hasn't just been comforting me. Dylan requires a lot of attention, as well as food, and the large man has spent a lot of time with the halfling. When Bowden isn't cooking, with Dylan handling the taste tests, he's cleaning up the apartment or doing something with the boy. Sometimes, Bowden even takes Dylan to abandoned warehouse we sometimes use for training, saying the halfling needs to get practice controlling his power so that another incident doesn't occur.

        Perhaps the bracelet gives Bowden infinite patience for things that are important to me. That's all I can think because I never would have guess that the scary demon with a bad-even-for-a-demon reputation could be so kind and caring to anyone, let alone a rambunctious kid. Bowden has even spent some time watching over Alex.