The Second Layer

Chapter 24: Garen

Chapter 24: Garen

Garen was in the midst of driving home. It had been an amazing day. After eating pizza together he and Jayna had actually gone bowling. He'd had to be very careful to keep his strength down and not score too highly. In the end he'd put up a respectable one hundred ninety-three. It had been enough to win by a decent margin, but still Jayna had accused him of going easy on her. If only she'd known he'd been trying more to keep from showing what he was really capable of, than to make the game competitive. A human against a freak would never be competitive, in any sporting contest, but he couldn't tell her that.

After that they'd gone to the park, after a quick stop at a convenience store to pick up some bread so Jayna would be able to feed the ducks at the pond in the park's center. She'd been so cute, tossing little pieces of bread to the ducks, and she'd looked so happy doing it, that he'd have been satisfied to spend years just watching her feed them. But eventually the bread had run out, and after that they'd spent awhile just walking through the park and talking to each other.

When night had fallen they left the park and went to see a movie. The movie itself had been just alright, but being able to watch it with her had made the experience worthwhile despite. And then afterwards she'd driven him back to his car, not far from the university.

Before he'd gotten out of her car, she'd made him promise to come back to see her again within a few days, this time. She'd told him quite clearly and confidently that she wasn't letting him leave until he promised. And though with Garen's power there wasn't the slightest chance she'd ever have been able to physically stop him if he'd tried to go, still he'd felt paralyzed, suddenly certain that she was right, that he wouldn't be able to bring himself to leave her unless she'd said it was ok. So he'd promised her he'd visit within a few days this time, and she'd surprised him by leaning over to give him a quick, soft kiss on the lips, and he'd left the car feeling higher than he'd ever felt while on any drug he'd ever done as a human.

He still didn't know how a human could have this kind of effect on him, but in the end he supposed he didn't care. It was a wonderful feeling, whatever the reason, whatever the cause. She was an incredible girl, and so what if she was human.

He was still feeling euphoric when his cell phone rang. Keeping his eyes on the road, he reached over to grab it and click it on without even looking before lifting it to his ear with a "Hello?".

"You've been a naughty, naughty boy, Carnus," a slightly harsh voice said.

"Vanning. What do you want?" Garen replied.

"I'm just trying to picture what Harken would do if she found out her new representative is not only a human-lover, but is actually in league with Hugh Masters," Vanning told him, his tone gloating.

"What did you just say?" Garen demanded, a cold feeling settling into the pit of his stomach.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. This is absolutely perfect for me. And to think I was actually upset over you becoming her representative the other night. But then, I had no idea just how fucked up you are. Now you're in the perfect position to help me. From now on I can use you to feed her whatever kind of misinformation I want. I'll give you reports and you'll parrot them back to her, and who knows how long I'll be able to keep her off my tail and balance out whatever her little spies are saying. From now on you'll be foremost in telling her what a great leader I am. And in return, I won't fill her in on the details that'll make her kill you herself, without me ever needing to lift a finger to break the little protection order she placed on you," Vanning informed him gleefully.

"So did you have a human or a freak following me around today?" Garen asked flatly.

"I followed you myself, actually. Usually surveillance work I leave to people like you, but it occurred to me that if I got anything on you it would be more than worth it, and I didn't want to trust this to anyone else. I'd planned on having to follow you around for a few days. I never guessed you'd hand me more dirt on the first day than I could ever want. That time you spent with the little human bitch couldn't have gotten more boring, though. I even had the time to make a number of phone calls while watching you," Vanning stated.