Demon's Bane

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

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Clutching his chest, Stark pulled himself to his feet, grinning.  A glob of wet dirt clung to his cheek, but other than that there wasn’t a mark on him.  Where Matt had punched him was only plain, unmarked skin.

  “The one and only,” he smirked.  

            Jana didn’t know what happened.  One minute she was staring at him open-mouth, the next she was throwing her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder—as if he was some old dear friend, and not a stranger she had virtually known for only a day. 

            Hell, today had been strange already—why not make it any stranger?

            Stark didn’t seem to mind.  Jana felt his hand go around her shoulder, patting her gently on the back and somehow that simple motion made her feel better than she had in a long time. 

            “It’s okay kid.  You’re okay, now,” he murmured, as if she were six and had awoken from a bad dream instead of sixteen and in a world of trouble he could never understand. 

            His words shouldn’t have been enough to comfort her...but they were. 

            “You’re an idiot,” she blubbered into the beaten leather of his old jacket. 

He smelled nice, she couldn’t help but think; like leather and oatmeal and other strangely odd and comforting things.  But then thinking of the way he’d charged Matt, she did punch him after all, hard on his shoulder.

  “What were you thinking?  You could have gotten yourself hurt.”

            His laugh rumbled beneath her chin.  “It’ll take more than that to get me down, kid,” he said.  “I’m just glad you’re okay.  I knew I had to find you.”

            It didn’t make sense—he barely even knew her.  But that didn’t erase the prickly, warmth spreading beneath her armpits at the thought of someone risking their neck when they thought she was in trouble. 

            Still, he raised a very important question.

            “How did you find me?” she asked, pulling away to see his face. She still touched him though—one hand on each side of his chest.  It felt important to maintain some kind of contact, though she didn’t know why.

            Stark shrugged.  For once, his grin wasn’t quite so cheerful anymore.

 “As I said before kid, you have your secrets…I have mine.”  His eyes flashed a dark, impenetrable black, but in an instant they were that melted chocolate brown again.  “All that matters is that I found you, and that I going to get you the hell out of here.”

            Jana nodded.  For once, the facts didn’t matter.  She was tired of facts, and secrets and suspicions. 

            Stark was right.  All that mattered was the here and now, and right now she wanted nothing more than what he promised.

            “Let’s go.”  She turned, reaching for him arm to pull him along, but he stopped her with a gentle tug on her wrist, spinning her around to face that brown stare. 

            “Wait.”  He placed both of his large hands on either side of her face, gently, carefully, holding her still.  “First you’re going to tell me what the hell happened.”  His eyes left hers to sweep over her dirty, dirt-covered body.  “You look like shit.”