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Ariadne yawned, deciding it was time to go find some coffee. While she wasn’t entirely upset at being sent—with pay—to attend a Hunter’s conference, sitting down all morning and most of the afternoon to listen to lectures had made her sleepy. She felt envious that Xavier was out in the field today, doing their actual job. But, oh well, she supposed she should be grateful that she got to sit in the air conditioner for three days.
She found one of the hotel café’s and ordered a coffee and a muffin. She was just looking around for a table when Sylus appeared out of nowhere by her shoulder.
“I’ll have a black coffee,” he told the staff member.
“Yes, Mr. S.”
Ari looked at him in disbelief. “Excuse me, what are you doing here?”
“What? I can’t visit one of my own properties?” he asked with a smirk. “Honestly, the Association should really be more careful about who they book venues from.”
He led her over to a table at the far corner of the café.
“You’ve got to be joking,” Ari muttered. “This one too?”
“Kitten, I own a lot of places, not just in the N109 Zone. Is it really that surprising?”
“No,” she admitted, putting sugars into her coffee. “But, don’t you think it’s a little dangerous walking around here with all these Hunters?”
“Well, I know a few of them at least would recognize me as no more than a humble fruit seller, thanks to you,” Sylus chuckled and Ariadne groaned, flicking the empty pack of sugar toward him.
Sylus leaned in, lowering his voice. “You should be more concerned about certain members of another organization who have decided to show up unannounced.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
Sylus took the empty sugar pack and started to fold it into a tiny bird. “The Fleet booked a block of rooms on the floor above you and your colleagues. I would keep an eye out and check your conference rooms before lectures. Because while I don’t care about what the Association does, outside of one specific Hunter, I can’t say the same for the Fleet.”
Ari felt her stomach twist instantly. It had only been a couple months since she had gotten back from Skyhaven. Tensions between the Fleet and the Association were thick enough to cut with a knife. And on a more personal level…
Sylus made a sound of alert and Ari glanced quickly over to the elevator, seeing several men in Fleet uniforms stepping out.
Her heart clenched, making it impossible to breathe for a second as she saw him exit last.
Both Caleb and his adjutant Liam paused to speak in front of the café. Ari couldn’t hear what they said, but Sylus watched her the whole time, obviously seeing her distress. He shifted over further so she would be hidden from view.
“What happened in Skyhaven won’t be repeated here.”
She was broken out of her growing panic at Sylus’s words, finally looking up to meet his eyes, feeling reassured by their scarlet depths.
Finally, Caleb and the others moved away and she was able to let out a sigh of relief.
Sylus handed her a tiny folded paper crow. “Mephisto will be keeping an eye on them.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key card. “I’m staying in the penthouse. If you need anything, come find me.”
She took the card as he got up, tucking it and the little crow into her purse, feeling a little better.
She hated that seeing Caleb only brought her dread now, hated that their reunion had ended the way it did. But every time she thought of Skyhaven, she felt the panic settle in again. It hadn’t been so bad in the moment, when she had been focused on surviving, getting out of that situation, but as the weeks after she got back to Linkon, she had frequent nightmares about Caleb locking her away in a labyrinth, turning into a monster she didn’t recognize, and whenever she begged or fought to be let go, he would put her in a smaller and smaller place until she was in little more than a tomb. Whether or not he would actually go that far, she didn’t know. And that fear was why she didn’t want to be confronted by him again. At least not so soon.
She checked the time and sighed, heading toward the afternoon lecture. Caleb aside, she was slightly concerned with the fact that the Fleet were here in Linkon. They didn’t technically have any jurisdiction there, but the hotel was near one of Ever’s facilities, which may lend to why they were staying there. Either way, Ariadne didn’t think it boded well.
She had a hard time paying attention through the lecture and was glad when it had finally ended. Tara caught her as she was leaving.
“Hey, Andrew and a few of the others were talking about going to the hot pot place across the street for dinner tonight, do you want to go with us?”
“I’ll think about it, I’m pretty tired,” Ari admitted.
“Okay, we’re meeting in the lobby at six if you want to join!”
Ariadne considered that going out with a group of people might be a good option, at least to get her mind off things, but she kind of wanted to stay in her room for the rest of the night to avoid possibly running into Caleb if she could.
She made her way toward the elevators to head up to her room, waiting for a second for the doors to open. As she stepped in, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind her and hit the button to keep the doors open instinctively before reaching for her floor number.
“Whew, made it. Thanks.”
She froze at the familiar voice and looked up to see Caleb, still in his uniform, staring down at her as the doors closed.
“Which floor, Pipsqueak?”
When she didn’t answer, he hit his own floor and positioned himself in front of the buttons. “You’re avoiding me.”
“Why are you even here?” she finally asked, regaining her voice.
“Had some business in town,” he said too nonchalantly. “Funny how we ended up staying in the same hotel, huh? How’s the conference been, Ari?”
She tried to reach around him to press the next floor and get out, but he stopped her.
“I just want to talk.”
“I don’t,” Ariadne replied firmly. “Move, Caleb.”
He smirked. “Why don’t you say the magic word?”
Furious, panic settling in her chest, she strode up to him. “This isn’t funny. Move.”
“So you really are scared of me,” he said, jaw clenching.
“You’re trapping me in an elevator, you think I’m not gonna get mad? This isn’t time for your stupid tricks, not after what went down in Skyhaven!”
Caleb sighed, but shifted so she could punch a number. It wasn’t even her floor, she just wanted to get off—and she didn’t really want Caleb to know where she was staying.
“Aren’t you all staying in the floors below us?”
Ariadne didn’t reply, she froze as the elevator stopped to let on a couple people and Caleb fell silent, nodding to them as he moved to stand against the back wall.
Ari held her breath as the elevator stopped again and the people got off. She stepped forward to follow them, but Caleb barred her way and punched the button to close the doors.
As soon as the elevator started again he turned and slapped the emergency stop button. The elevator ground to a halt, sending Ari stumbling forward.
“Caleb!”
He grabbed her shoulders to steady her but she instantly pushed him away. “Let go.”
“You can’t avoid me forever, Ari,” he said darkly. “I just want to make sure you’re safe, and you’re gonna be a hell of a lot safer in Skyhaven within the next few months.” He took her arm again. “Please just hear me out.”
“I said let go of me!”
She pushed against his chest and he released her but still blocked her way to the elevator panel. “I’m trying to help you, I don’t understand why you don’t see that.”
“Maybe because the last time I saw you you threatened to lock me away, Caleb! That’s not protection, that’s imprisonment!”
He cocked his head, eyes narrowing. “How? I care about you, Ari, you think I’m gonna stay away forever, especially when I know you’re in danger?”
“Until you specifically tell me what this danger is, I won’t entertain your ‘protection’,” she snapped.
She darted under his arm and lunged for the keypad to start the elevator again, but Caleb caught her wrist and hauled her back against him, holding her in a tight, strangling grip.
“Why won’t you just understand?” he demanded. “You never trust me anymore!”
“Give me a reason to!” Ari cried, struggling in his grip, panic settling in as she started to fight and kick, all reason leaving her as the memories from all those nightmares started to resurface, threatening to cloud her judgement.
“Stop fighting me!” he demanded, pushing her into a corner of the elevator and trapping her there with his arms. “This is why you can’t be trusted to look after yourself! You won’t trust the right people.”
“Stop it! Let me go!” she cried, clawing at him until she felt the oppressing sensation of his Evol, pushing in on her, making it hard to breathe, making her body heavy. “Don’t…”
He leaned down to speak into her ear. “I came here to get you out of the city before things really start to go down. Come back to Skyhaven with me and I promise you’ll be protected.”
In her panic response, she managed to resonate with him, using his own Evol against him to release her, then lunged for the keypad.
“You little—”
Her fingers grazed the keys as he snatched her around the waist and yanked her back.
“Let go!” she screamed, kicking and punching at him, but Caleb took the blows, grabbing her wrists.
“Stop,” he snapped. “I’m trying to help you. Now be good, and we can get off this elevator.”
~~~~~~~
Sylus was an intuitive man, and those instincts increased tenfold when it came to Ariadne Celest. He may not have known exactly what went down in Skyhaven, but he knew it involved the fleet and her so-called childhood best friend who had returned from the dead as the new Fleet Colonel.
But while he didn’t know the details of that mission, he knew one thing: he had never seen her truly scared.
Ariadne was a strong woman, an intrepid hunter, and she had accused him, one of the most dangerous men alive of his crimes to his face like it was nothing. Most of the time he wished she was more cautious, that she got scared more often, but he hadn’t been prepared to see real panic in her eyes, her body automatically shrinking to be smaller, cowed and terrified.
It didn’t suit her, and he had the primal urge to destroy anything that made her feel like that.
As he wondered briefly if he should cause an emergency that would force the hotel to have to clear out, Mephisto found him on the balcony and cawed frantically to get his attention.
“What is it?” Sylus asked.
The mechanical crow projected some video footage of Ariadne going into the elevator, only for the Fleet Colonel to follow her, doors shutting behind them.
“Bring up the elevator feed.”
Mephisto did as he asked and Sylus saw that the elevator they were in had stopped between two floors.
Sylus instantly saw red and headed to the elevators, prying the door open with his Evol and jumping into the darkness.
~~~~~~~
“Why are you doing this, Caleb? Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Ariadne demanded, trying to keep her voice from shaking. She hated that she couldn’t control her emotions when it came to him. But every nerve in her body felt frayed, putting her right back in Skyhaven, Caleb pushing her against the couch, unsure if she would ever see Linkon, or even another person again.
He shook his head. “I just don’t see why you can’t understand. “I care about you, Ari—don’t you get it? And you continue to run into danger. I never should have let you leave Skyhaven.”
She felt dread well inside of her, heart pounding as her nightmares flashed behind her eyes.
“Now, you’re gonna come with me and not make a fuss. We’ll get out of the city before midnight, but until then, you’re gonna stay in my room.”
He reached for the buttons to start the elevator again, but before he could press them, something slammed into the top of the elevator. Ari and Caleb both ducked as the hatch was ripped open with a black red mist and a figure jumped inside.
Ari had never been so relieved to see Sylus.
“Let her go, Colonel.” Sylus’s ruby eyes bore into Caleb as he sized him up.
Caleb huffed, lips curling in a sneer. “You’re part of the reason she needs protecting.”
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you,” Sylus replied casually. “Difference is, I have no intention of locking her away like some delicate object made only to look at. What do you think she would prefer, Colonel? Freedom or smothering imprisonment?”
“Get behind me,” Caleb said and pushed Ari behind him as he used his Evol to slam Sylus against the opposite side of the elevator.
The man grunted, but his own Evol shot toward Caleb and slammed him back as well, encircling his throat and tightening.
Ariadne watched, unable to do anything, as they locked themselves in a battle of strength. Caleb was fuming, veins bulging in his neck as he tried to free himself.
“I—I won’t let you take her!”
“I’m not taking her anywhere she doesn’t want to do,” Sylus gritted out. “She’s allowed to choose who she wants to trust, but she didn’t look like she wanted to go with you. In fact, I have never once seen her truly scared, and the fact that you’re the cause of it?” He chuckled darkly. “Oh, Colonel, I would watch your back.”
Caleb snarled, trying to force Sylus’s power back with his Evol. “D-Damn you!”
His eyes rolled back in his head and he finally went limp. Sylus sagged with a huff, feet hitting the ground fully as he released the Evol around Caleb’s throat. The Colonel slumped, unconscious, to the ground.
Sylus went to help Ari up. She was still sitting in the corner of the elevator, trembling.
“Are you all right, sweetie?”
She couldn’t help throwing her arms around Sylus as he pulled her to her feet. He huffed a little but held her close, and turned the elevator back on, heading up to the top floor.
“It’s all right,” he murmured. “Just breathe.”
She tried to, doing her best to match Sylus’s breathing and by the time they got to the top floor she felt a little steadier, especially when the doors opened, letting in air.
Sylus guided her out and she looked back at Caleb, slumped on the ground, feeling a squirming sense of mixed feelings.
“He’ll be all right,” Sylus told her. “Unless you want me to get rid of him for good.”
“No,” she said.
He smiled as he plucked his key from his pocket and unlocked the nearest door once the elevator closed.
He led her inside the penthouse and sat her down on the couch before reaching for the phone, pressing the number for the front desk.
“Elevator Eight is out of order. Make sure a sign is put up,” he said casually.
He set the phone down and headed into the adjoining bedroom, coming back with a soft blanket which he wrapped around Ariadne’s shoulders.
“You don’t have to talk about it,” he assured her as he sat down on the couch, enough distance away so as not to crowd her, but close enough to offer the proper reassurance.
“It’s just complicated,” she said, not knowing where to start. “But…thank you, for getting me out of there.”
“It’s not a problem,” Sylus told her. “If you think you owe me anything, stay and have dinner with me—you can talk if you want to, or we can just watch a movie.”
“That sounds good,” Ariadne said, a little relief finally replacing the nerves rattling through her. She took a deep breath and turned to Sylus with a small smile. She didn’t know yet if she was ready to talk about everything that had happened in Skyhaven—maybe it would be good to get it off her chest. But, however the night ended she knew that Sylus wouldn’t push her until she was ready and that was enough.