by Cassie Power
She deserved better than that.
They both did.
It was kind of clear that the storm wasn’t going to let up any time soon. Trying not to be boring, Dan turned the topic to food. He wasn’t hungry again yet, but finding out what his new friend liked to eat was helpful. Potentially.
Then, laughing, he looked at her, locking his light-colored eyes with her darker ones.
“Oh, also your favorite color. I need to know that, don’t I?” He chuckled, and felt an arm moving around his back, low.
Meredith tucked her head against his upper arm, and cuddled closer.
“Blue. I’m also partial to green, but blue wins. How about you?”
“Brown, of course. Like tree bark.”
There was a soft noise, which was a bit humorous in tone. Not derisive, but just a little bit like that, for some reason.
“Brown? Typical man. I suppose that you like hunting and fishing too? When you aren’t watching football on television?”
He nodded, then relented, wanting her to really know him.
“Fishing and hunting. I also grow food. I have a nice orchard and several acres of garden, in season. Football… Not so much. I like fight sports better. Boxing, mixed martial arts, that kind of thing? I never saw a lot of use in just watching, though. Especially things like ball games.” It was the truth, and he waited for her to chastise him for being too violent.
Half of all the women he heard of feared and hated hunting after all. It was a part of him, but he knew that most of the people around him didn’t have feelings like that.
To his surprise, she just nodded.
“Me, I’m into movies. I know, it’s boring, but there you have it. That, and reading. I spend most of my time working. You do art? Carving wood?”
He smiled, since that was a lot more friendly than killing as a topic.
“Yep. Right now I’m doing wood. Chainsaw carving. I’ve done a lot of different kinds. Work with chisels and even finer work than that. Stone, too. Hand tools, mainly, for that. It’s great for building up the arms and shoulders.” Not that he had to worry about that part of things. His body naturally formed that way. Large and strong.
He could look older than he did, or younger, and also shift to his hunting form. All of them tended to be strong and powerful. It wasn’t impossible for him to look thin or weak, just not his way, most of the time.
The cuddling against him intensified and his arm was prodded a bit, getting him to stiffen, trying to be impressive for the lady. It wasn’t even consciously done, though it was noticed as he forced himself to relax.
Meredith made an appreciative noise.
“You have to work out, too. That’s impressive. You’re a fighter? Boxing?” She spoke, nerves clear in her words.
“Yes. I practice, but don’t compete. That’s not a thing that I’m into. MMA, too.”
Rather than shy away, she stayed, holding him closely. Not being an idiot, he changed the topic then.
For the next few hours, heading toward midnight, they just chattered about things. People that she’d known, her team mainly, and stories that she had about work. It was the kind of thing that people did when they didn’t really know each other. Learning about what they liked and how they treated others from their own words.
He didn’t speak a lot, and when he did it was all true, but minor. Not that he wanted to hide himself, but he had to. Dan couldn’t tell her about the truth. Not yet. A part of him truly wanted to anyway. Not just as part of gaining her trust, but so they could really come to know one another. That probably wasn’t going to really work, so he said nothing.
His people were, regardless of certain skills they had, just people. In the end, they were the same as anyone else in the ways that mattered. They loved, and learned from the world, had friends and enemies. They hunted other human beings, but even the most dedicated that way from his own people had always told him that they were simply others, who were much like they were. They didn’t see them as cattle, or sheep. They were food, but still their own kind.
That didn’t mean that Meredith could see him that way, if she was too frightened of him and the minor differences between them. A bit of magic, a longer life. Tiny things that weren’t all that important to the bigger shape of the world.
Smiling, Dan nodded, mainly to himself. His new friend was murmuring, getting sleepy. There was a bedroom, so he picked her up, and carried her into it. She was awake, her arms around his neck the whole time. As she was tucked into bed, under the covers, she didn’t let go.
“Stay with me?”
He nodded.
“Always. At least in my heart. I need to stay up to make sure the fire stays going. I can doze on the sofa. You’ll be fine here.” He didn’t leave, since it took a while for sleep to find his lady.
That idea wasn’t real, so he quashed it. She wasn’t his. He might, if he did everything perfectly, get her attention. Dan could, in the end, keep her for a while. Days perhaps. Past that it was going to be too hard to make happen. He wanted that. Love, and all the things that went with it.
That was the dream, but it was so hard. So far in life that had never happened for him. There hadn’t been a woman that could see past the small things into his heart. Part of him wanted her to be the one, the being that could see him past some shape shifting and his age.
Would it be her?
There was no way for him to know that. She was sweet and kind. Intelligent and sexy. Alluring on a level that dipped into his soul it seemed. That didn’t mean he was right. Being called to her could mean a lot of things. From her being right for him, to his loneliness clinging to the first person that was good enough that happened to come along.
Letting her go to sleep, making the small noises that people did as they drifted off, he moved to the front room, and added a few pieces of wood to the fire. In the morning, they’d need to go out and get more of it, having used half of the stash they had already. From the sound of what was going on they’d have a few feet of white on the ground to move through by then. If they could do it, they needed to get Meredith out of there in the daylight. To someplace safe and near her people.
If they couldn’t, then Dan needed to find a way to get outside and do a search for what might be going on. No matter what else might be happening, this storm clearly wasn’t natural. The suddenness, the way that it had gone around the modern oracles used to tell what would take place… That was very telling. If it was just some kid learning that they could influence the world, then he’d have a chat with them about being more responsible, and leave it at that.
That was the best-case scenario to his mind. Even if the child was drunk on power, it would be possible to reason with them. No one truly insane could do that level of magic. Entitled, certainly. Not mad, though. It took too much focus and concentration for even a disorganized mind to manage the trick. It was that which prevented most from truly mastering that particular craft, rather than a lack of power in the first place.
If it wasn’t that, if things were darker, or different than he could imagine, then he’d have to find a way to protect the woman with him. If it was something smaller than that, well, then they could try to get the television show crew in. They were his tribe, too, even if they didn’t know it. That meant he had a duty to protect them, but also one to help them succeed, even if there was a bit of risk to doing so.
After all, even Dan knew that he was probably blowing things out of proportion. It would most likely end up being just a storm and a chance to meet a nice woman. One that could be special to him, if things worked out correctly.
Chapter five- Merry
Merry woke slowly. The sounds that had made her feel like the world was about to end had slowed a lot over the last hours. She’d heard it happening in the darkness of sleep, a primitive part of her brain telling her that the worst of the immediate danger had passed.
It was enough to allow her to smile. Even as she’d dozed there had been a certain fitful res
tlessness. Each pulse of air she heard, or felt, had left her tense and worried. The little cabin they were in was a strong thing, she could tell. That didn’t mean that a part of her hadn’t kind of suspected that death was coming for her.
Now, as a white light came in through the window on the wall behind her head, to the side of the bed on her right, she was doing a lot better. Standing up, she stretched and tentatively stuck her right foot from under the covers. She expected the floor, which was a clean, hard wood thing, to be chilly, if not freezing on a level that would cause pain. It was actually just about pleasant. That really shocked her a little. In fact, the air itself was nice. Not too warm or cold, even on the far side of the diminutive place, well away from the wood stove.
Getting up, she glanced out the window. Then turned to face the thing totally. There was still snow falling. That made a curtain of white lace that moved. There was beauty in it that she hadn’t really expected. Not that she didn’t love snow. To look at. The trouble and there was an obvious problem even from the window that she looked out at the moment, was that the world itself had become shorter. The level of the ground was two or three feet too high.
Worse, that was at the very least. She didn’t know the area well, so was probably assuming that it was less than it looked like, meaning they were kind of in a pickle.
She hated pickles.
“Damn. That… is not a good sign.”
Stumbling to the door of the room, still feeling like she needed to sleep a bit more, Merry paused. Camping, or even staying in an unfamiliar space, meant she wasn’t exactly dressed well for the day. She had no makeup on, of course, and had spent the night in her clothing, not wanting to go out to the car to get the rest of her gear in the dark. Honestly, while she had it all in her back seat, she wasn’t totally certain she could get it now, either. Not without risking hypothermia.
The very idea that she’d be truly risking death in order to get at her toothbrush was frightening. It was still snowing however, so getting at her gear now, before things got even worse was an important thing. If she could.
At the bedroom door, which had been left open, to allow the heat in, there was something in the way. Just sitting there in the middle of the thing, preventing her from finding the strange and slightly uncomfortable toilet down the hallway.
Her bags. Everything from inside her car.
She snorted and shook her head slowly. Trying to clear it. On the one hand, she felt a bit pressured in an odd way. Like getting into her vehicle without her permission had been overstepping what Dan was allowed to do yet. They’d just met. Given the darkness of the night before she didn’t even really know what he looked like. True, she probably would have had sex with him, but that had, she was certain, been about her own fear. A bit of basic attraction, too.
After all, Dan was currently the big provider of fire and food. In a primitive part of her mind she could find that important enough to make him seem pretty special.
Which was why she pulled the bags into the room and closed the door instead of whining about an invasion of privacy. That way she could change into clean clothing, if nothing else. Still, even though it was right there and she had a small travel mirror with her, she didn’t put anything on her face. Not because she didn’t want to look good for her new friend. She actually did, which was a thing that was pretty normal for her.
No, it was just that the situation didn’t really call for it at the moment. They were, very clearly, stuck. That meant she needed to act like a survivor and not a princess that was going to need to be taken care of the whole time. This wasn’t some kind of test for Dan, to see if he was willing to cater to her on hand and foot. Looking over at her brown suitcases, she shook her head.
After all, that part was already kind of obvious. Hurrying, needing the bathroom, she changed, brushed her long black hair and tied it back. The sweater she put on was thick and warm. It was also a soft blue, which she always liked as a color on herself. Not that she was going to impress anyone with her looks at the moment. As she’d been thinking, even playing at that kind of thing being important right now was stupid.
She patted at her hair anyway and snorted as she rolled her eyes.
“Brilliant thinking. I’ll just get ready for an evening on the town first.” It was low and muttered under her breath, but she went out to see what she was supposed to do for the day.
Dan stood by the stove and turned to smile at her as she walked into the room. It wasn’t all that bright, but there were windows, and when she saw the man she froze for a moment.
Dan Meeres was… huge. That was the very first thing Merry noticed about him. Tall on a level that was rare. The next thing she noticed were his eyes. They were an ice blue that seemed to pierce her soul with a glance. Not that he wasn’t staring a bit, too. He was white, which she’d gotten the night before, dark or not, and had very blond hair. It was the kind of thing that screamed Nordic, or at least nearly so. Really, it pretty much told her that he, no matter how he’d dressed himself at the moment, was a Viking. His ancestors had been at any rate.
His face was strong. There was a leanness to it that spoke of power at the same time as being handsome. The physical kind of looks that came from hard work and careful diet. Looking down she noticed that his shoulders and arms were larger than she would have thought. Showing muscle even through the heavy shirt he had on. That really meant something, since normal men didn’t do that. Not even if they worked out. Bodybuilders might, but he wasn’t really big enough for that kind of thing.
In short, he had a look that was nearly as exotic as her own. One that pretty much fit with her ideal for what a man could be. Physically, anyway. He smiled at her and gestured at the things in her hand. Her toothbrush and the half-used tube of Crest that she’d dug out of her things.
“The running water is in the kitchen. I’ll start something for breakfast?” He seemed happy enough, but his jeans were damp, all the way around his legs and he stood close to the stove. If he felt cold at all, that was being hidden from her totally.
She wanted to shiver in sympathy, but didn’t, knowing that it would be her turn to be the wet person soon enough.
“Thanks for getting my things. I should have done that last night.”
Dan nodded, but also seemed to be distracted. He glanced at the window, and then took a single, rather deep, breath.
“I had to head that way, regardless. I needed to get the shovels and gear from the back of my truck. After we eat we’ll need to go and get some wood, which will take a while.” He gestured at the door.
To the side of it were three different kinds of shovels, including the big red type that was designed for snow and two others. One with a point, the other having a flat front. All of them looked to be made of metal. Including the handles. That would be cold to use, but she had gloves on her.
“Right. I… Need to use the other room. Um…” She went into the kitchen first, even in pain from her bladder and quickly brushed her teeth. Then she risked a run to the little room at the end of the hallway. There was a sink in the space, but no running water. Instead there was a pitcher, which was empty, but that was all.
That was cold. She hovered over the seat and did her business, then, feeling gross, had to go back to the kitchen to wash her hands. After that she felt better about the world, so managed a smile at what Dan was doing in the front space.
In the time it had taken her to feel partly human again, he’d started to make canned eggs and some bacon that had a similar origin. It smelled incredible to her, even though it looked to be too much food for her to eat at one sitting. Then, the man was vast, so it could be that he expected to consume most of it himself. If so, he was about right.
Also, clearly being a miracle being from a different world, if not an actual Norse god in disguise, he had a pot of coffee brewing. When he turned to see where her gaze went, he smiled.
“It will be a bit for that. We don’t have the right equipment, so I’m making it hobo
fashion.” He made a face and then shook his head. “I don’t have a different name for it. I know that we aren’t supposed to call homeless people that anymore.”
She nodded.
“That is the politically correct way. Still… Homeless coffee sounds wrong. Like we should take it in and give it a nice meal, instead of drinking it. Not that I care right now. I’d suck on a handful of beans for the caffeine at the moment.” That wasn’t exactly true, since she was starting to wake up a little, but her head hurt. Probably from withdrawal. She had habits when it came to coffee. The deep dark brew was part of her day to day life, after all.
Her very tall new male friend let a slow smile cover his face. It really was a good one. He was better than just cute, even after having been up all night. Most people couldn’t really manage that.
He laughed a little, not making much noise while doing it. She could tell due to the movement of his shoulders. That got her attention for a moment, being so well muscled, but she looked away, pretending to be interested in the pots and pans on the stove top.
Dan went on, turning his own attention back to things.
“That’s pretty close to the idea. Sucking on the beans? The grounds go straight into the water, then I’ll toss some snow onto the top to shock them into rising and skim them off poorly with a spoon. Which, as you might be imagining, means that we’ll get more than a few of them in our cups if we aren’t careful. Good to know that you’re prepared for the day.” The words were a little teasing.
She understood why that was, of course.
“Yeah. If you got wet to there, then the short girl is going to be covered to above the waist. Not that I’m tiny. The world is just not cooperating correctly today. Well, I’ll just send you first, to do all the hard digging and then tidy up behind you? That will help a lot.” She grinned, but it probably wasn’t the worst division of labor ever. Not a fair one, but given that he was six-seven or so and she was five-seven, that meant one of them was going to be at less risk of vanishing in the snow drifts than the other.
