Love Bites

My Hero

    I scrunched up my face, waiting for the well-deserved blow. A dreadful moment hung in the air as I anticipated the pain, but the hit never came. What did happen was a voice yelling out. “Hey! Back off Neanderthal.”

    I hadn’t heard a voice that beautiful in roughly three years, my heart skipped a beat despite the situation I found myself in. Before I knew it my feet were back on the floor. I staggered to keep from falling over. I finally opened up my eyes, peeking out to find out what is happening now. The man was awfully pissed, so to have him release me was a bit strange. I would rightfully be upset over another man fondling my girlfriend. However, I have never been a violent person even with all of my training, and preparation for battles. It was different fighting an awful beast, versus fighting a human, no matter how awful the human. I just never found myself justifying it enough to start a brawl with another man.

    What I see now is nearly comical. A girl who barely even comes up to the ‘Neanderthals’ (as she put it) pectoral muscle. However, she is tough, strong, and thoroughly annoyed. I don’t know how she manages to shove to push up right in between me and the guy, ready to defend my honor. I lean back in mild amusement now, interested in how these events might turn out. The guy speaks up, “Hey little girl, my issue is not with you.” He gestures behind her, making eye contact with me. “This Creep was filling up my girl, and he needs to be knocked on his ass.”

    The girl in front of me is standing forward, in a ready to fight stance. “I don’t give a damn.” Cold, and to the point. Sincerely intimidating sounding. “You’re not touching him.” She steps forward. The guy shuffles back barely a half step.

    The girlfriend looks at the burly man in a guffawed expression. In a surprisingly nasally voice she says, “What the hell are you backing down for? It’s not like she’s going to do anything.” The silver haired girl steps up to the figurative plate now. She nearly puts her boobs in the much shorter girls face, trying to do a back off movement. I do my best not to burst out laughing. “Are you little shrimp?”

    I can’t tell from standing behind her, but I imagine her lips curling up into a half smile. I can see her stepping even closer into the silver haired girl’s space, which catches her off guard. She either steps back or is pushed over, cuz the ‘shrimp’ is going to get her way. A flash of fear makes the silver haired girls eyebrows knit, she shakily says “We were on our way out anyway. You’re not worth our time. Just move out the way!”

    I would have to say that his was the priceless moment out of the whole situation. My rescuer swings her hips to the side in a defiant nature. She moves to the side to the other side of the door. She opens it nice and wide, saying “My pleasure. Taking out the trash is dirty work, but someone has to do it. Now take your filthy attitude out of here!”

    The man and woman scoff and quickly shuffle out the door. I can hear the silver haired girl cursing her man out for not standing up to the woman. Some snide comment was passed about how we should be forced to pay for the drinks, or maybe call the cops for a harassment charge. I just shook with laughter. I couldn’t believe how this situation played out. Never would I have thought that I would run into my favorite person, after all of these years, in such an awkward situation.

    I step over to Zen. “Hey! Long time no see girl.”

    She is so short. She only comes to my shoulder. That has always been an adorable quality about her, but has in no way diminished how thoroughly capable of kicking ass she is. I admire her for a moment. Her skin is alabaster, her eyes are a bright silver blue, her hangs in long blonde locks to her waist, her nose and cheek bones are sharp. She turns to me in that natural authoritative way she has, and slugs a fist in my chest. “You got bigger!” She laughs aloud. I almost forgot all of the people in the shop, but with her melodious voice, people find it hard not to stare. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

    I mock pain and rub at my chest where her fist struck me. It was solid but it was playful. She has always treated me like this. I shake my head at her, “And you haven’t changed a bit! That girl was right, you do come off as being a bit shrimp like” and I stick my tongue out at her in a playful gesture.

    I could barely refrain from laughing at her haughty expression. “Hummmph… Shows how much you know. I have been training my tail off for the last three years, there’s no way you’re going to beat me this time.” Zen flexes her biceps at me, rubbing at them in a body builder display. I do laugh at that. I earn myself a firmer punch to the solar plexus, which makes me laugh harder.

    I wrap my arm around her shoulders and guide her through the door. “Let’s get out of here. I think we have made enough of a scene.”

    Zen easily walks along with me. I finally feel her relax a little in to me, calming down from the situation I had found myself in. “You know, I almost didn’t recognize you. I nearly left you to fend for yourself, but that little button nose of yours and docile nature you carry made it clear who you are.”

    “Hey! I resemble that remark.” I laugh, and resist the urge to kiss the top of her head. She would hate that any way. Zen does not ever want to feel coddled. I love her that way. I never have to worry about her, she is always so confident in herself. “So, when did you get here?”

    “About an hour ago. The flight was early, but I thought everyone would be busy with work or training.” She shoves against me, making her snub clear. As if I didn’t get it with a simple remark.

    “Oh is that right? What are you trying to tell me, am I getting soft?” Zen playfully pokes me in the ribs. “Feels like you are.”

    I give a shocked and hurt expression, selling the show with a scoff and saying, “That is just so hurtful. I work, all year long. Slaving away until I’m next to nothing, and you wanna call me fat!? Well I never.” I take my arm back and start walking away from her in a show of hurt.

    “You pansy ass little chubster. Don’t you start no games with me!” She starts chasing after me then. “Time to do sprints lazy!”

    I got kicked, punched, and tackled several times on the way to the house. All the while she’s making me run back, still keeping up the charade that I’m fat. I’m incredibly happy at this point that I hadn’t had the opportunity to get my coffee today.

    We make it back to the house, both of us panting, coughing, worn out, and a little bruised from the exciting run back. We settle down when we get in. Mason and Sandra are still at work, and will be heading to the clave immediately afterward to finish preparations for the ceremony. I grab myself a glass of water and one for Zen. We sit down in the living room and we take a few minutes to catch up.

    She tells me about how great school is. She is studying as a nurse, thinking it will help in the field more. This way she can help do some combat patches and keep casualties low. I find that amazing. I can’t handle all the blood, guts, and tissue personally. It completely grosses me out. She starts to go into further detail about the cadavers she had been practicing work on. I nearly lose my breakfast. Good naturedly she earns a laugh from my reaction.

    I tell her that I have finished my degree in computer science. I asked her if she dated any one while she was a way. She laughs at me, telling me she didn’t have time for that. Of course she asks if I had any girlfriends, and I tell her there were two (there weren’t, I found them to be incredibly immature and lacking and substance. Not to mention I’m in love with Zen, but I digress.) I do tell her about my training buddy which accounts for my bulky stature. She tells me how great I look, not so damn skinny any more. I tell her too bad there are no exercises to help her grow. I get a dirty look.

    I grow a little more serious, and ask about the violence that had been ensuing in that region, and what she had been learning. “The area has become stable. We had illuminated some of the more heavily influential Vampire members, which has forced them to back off more. There are still a lot of killings, but at least not nearly as many as there were. It was getting very stressful, and the police were getting in the way a bit. That made our jobs harder. Fortunately, I was able to learn a lot about tracing and following leads back to the Vamp’s location. This group is incredibly tricky though, and have made it a wild goose chase to find the leaders hide out.” Zen puffs out a breath of air and runs her fingers through her icy blonde locks. “It’s aggravating. We get a step close and end up five steps back. Their incredibly resourceful. They are getting stronger, individually and as a group. It’s just so uncommon to see them work together on such a large scale. I don’t know what else I can do for them. I’ve done everything I could possibly do. I just think it is time to come home, and do some work with the clave. Teach everyone the methods I have learned, some amazing preventative measures that will really help before they make their way here.”

    “You think that it is going to be coming this way?” I ask her.

    “Oh yea. We have been seeing reports already of their activity. It’s like they have a thumb print. A very unique style of work that makes them noticeable, and a skill that makes them difficult to track. Their coming this way, but I’m sure we have some time to keep things from escalating.” She looks up and smiles at me, trying to reassure me. The same thing she always does. A little boy who needs to be taken care of. She was the one who helped me understand so much of the workings of the clave, and the way Vampires are. I watch her lips curve, her eyes shine, and every little thing else about her. She is undeniably beautiful.

    I shake my head. Standing, I reach my hand out to her. “Well, there’s not much more we are going to be able to do at this moment.” She takes my hand without a hint of un-comfortability.

    I try not to focus too much on how soft and warm her hand is. “What are we doing?” She asks.

    I pull her up from the couch until she is standing directly in front of me. I look down at her face, and gaze at her feature for a moment. Her eyes seem to change a little for some reason, as if they lose some of their coolness and brighten while I look at her. “Letting out some frustration.”