An Immortal's Favour

Jack- Il. Gale Uman

*

When we'd extricated ourselves from the paparazzi, who eventually set their sights on another couple, we returned to the car, which laid safe in a near-deserted car park. Light rain pattered against the gravel and there was a rumble from above, followed by another.

"Why'd you go after him? You didn't even know if he was dangerous."

"He didn't seem it and he wasn't. We just talked. That's all."

"Unbelievable."

By this time, it was well past one in the morning, and the crowds on the streets were thinning out.

"Why are you overreacting?"

"Because what happened wasn't any of our business!" I fumed, pressing my arms to my side. "You didn't know those people, yet you willingly followed that stranger- alone -upstairs. And he could have- have..."

"Have what?"

"I don't know! And the way it made us look- imagine what everyone else was thin-"

"Oh, so that's your reason," Gale said, her nostrils flared. "This isn't about me, is it?"

I stepped closer, looking her in the eye. She stared me down as my skin went prickly all over.

"If you decide to do something stupid, that's your choice. Don't expect me to come running in when things don't turn out the way you want them to."

"Coward."

I flinched, letting the word sink in.

Coward.

The minute my senses returned fully, I dampened my lips, turned away.

"Let's go, unless you plan on getting drenched."

We took off to a motel on the other side of town, settling down for the night without so much as a glance at each other. Gale closed the door to her room, hardly making a sound. I stared at it, clenching hard at the handle of my own.

"For spirit's sake." I was stuck with her for three months; there was no use in making said months more unpleasant than they needed to be, even if the burn of her insult still lingered.

Coming forward, I knocked on Gale's door to get her attention, watching as it crept back. The smell of something sweet drifted in from the depths of the room, and the immortal let me in at last.

"Help yourself to some tea." She waved a hand towards the cups and the teapot that'd been arranged over a table in one corner of the room. I edged over carefully, batting away the thin curtains that stirred in the breeze provided by the open windows. I went to close them, mumbling about how it could start pouring with rain any second.

Gale came, taking a seat on one of the low chairs and set about pouring me a cup of her red tea straight away. She bent down and took a cup into her hand, her eyebrows pinched together while she thought.

"Let's not fight," I started.

"I am sorry. I said things I did not mean." She took a long sip from her cup, her nose twitching as steam curled around it.

"I still don't understand. Why did you go after him?"

"Because no one else felt inclined to help." Her shoulders hunched, and a pained look crossed over her face. But, even then, frustration swirled at the base of my stomach; she'd still known nothing about the man, and the risk had been too great.

"He bribed someone. I doubt you can trust a person like that."

"Perhaps not. I took a risk, I know. But he didn't react as I'd expected. He seemed more hurt than angered to me." Gale lowered her hand, staring hard at the cup balanced in it.