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Kim&039;s eyes widened at Ash&039;s harsh words "A little bloodthirsty isn&039;t it?"

Not to him and not when they so richly deserved it He flashed her a taunting grin "Given what they did to Tory, I&039; a quick death is merciful Not to mention they ruined one of my favorite jackets and totaled my bike"

Pam snorted "Well let&039;s just torture then bonored the sarcasm as he crossed his ar like , soet into that"

Kim shuddered as she spoke to Tory "I think your new friend is a little bloodthirsty"

Ash stifled a smile at her words If she only knew that was his primary nourishment And yes, he could definitely use some blood since it&039;d been over a week since he last ate

Ki "Work calls I&039;ll be back soon"

Ash stepped back toward the bed to check in with Tory "How are you feeling?"

She sht the car ran you over"

"I rolled out of the way"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously "It didn&039;t look like that froht over both of your legs"

He looked down at theed "Obviously not"

Tory&039;s expression turned sweet and adoring, and it hit hiently on his ar touch he&039;d probably ever experienced "Thank you for gettinglike crazy when you carried ratitude "Don&039;t worry about it Next tihed at his humor "I think it would take at least a team of people to carry you"

"Back to the insults, huh?"

She shook her head at hi man"

Ash opened his mouth to speak, but before he had a chance, the doctor came in to examine her He moved ahile the doctor chatted with Tory

"You are one very lucky wo you here as quickly as he did, you wouldn&039;t have ed in your wreck"

Tory was still amazed by what Ash had done for her Kim had told her that he&039;d been in bad shape hiht when she&039;d died in his arone down, she re to protect her He&039;d tried to keep her near hirimaced as the doctor touched a tender spot on her abdomen

He pulled back with an incredulous look "You&039;re healing unbelievably fast"

"Good genes and lots of vitahed at her "You keep this up and we&039;ll have you out of here in about three days"

Ash cleared his throat "Is there any chance she can leave sooner?"

Tory caught Ash&039;s"Yeah, I can&039;t really afford to be out of co"

"Honey," the doctor said in a strained tone, "you died You est You&039;re really lucky you&039;re still with us so let me watch over you for a few days before we turn you loose, okay?"

It was hard to argue when he put it like that "All right Thanks, doctor"

He inclined his head before he left the back with that stoicism he wore like a force field to keep the rest of the world away She kne hard she&039;d hit the ground and it wouldn&039;t have been a bit softer for hied hith et me here?"

"I have my evil Jedi ways," he said in a flat, even tone "The Force is strong with this one"

She laughed again He could be so char when he wanted to And so sweet "Well if the doc won&039;t releasehis arms crossed "We keep an eye out for our new friends and make sure they don&039;t decide to finish the job they started"

She nodded "They think I have the journal, don&039;t they?"

"Would be uess Either that or they&039;re just really bored and thought knocking us around would alleviate it"

"Speaking of boredo to do while I&039;rimaced at him "Are you serious?"

He nodded "It&039;s like crack Once you start, you have to keep reading I have so and Trinity Blood issues handy Interested?"

"Actually, I&039;d like to read the journal we found Someone who&039;s really tall andme Atlantean"

"It&039;s not in Atlantean It&039;s Greek"

"So say you"

Groaning, Ash shrugged his backpack off his shoulder and manifested the journal inside it One of the reasons he always kept a backpack with his that he needed without arousing mortal suspicions Since no one kneas in his pack, they didn&039;t knohen he used his powers to get sos that meant the most to him and kept them from harm Ryssa&039;s three journals that he&039;d found after Didy toy that Savitar had given hi marks were forever etched into the wood The backpack also held his mother&039;s medallion wrapped in one of the black scarves that Siht back from one of her many visits to Kalosis

And Nick&039;s soul that he&039;d traded to Arteiven to Acheron

He pulled out Ryssa&039;s journal and handed it to Tory "Can you read it without your glasses?"

She sighed irritably "Not a single word I hate being blind Any chance I can talk you into going tomy spare pair?"

"I can&039;t leave you unattended You know that"

"Then will you read it to me?"

Ash looked down at the leather as a sharp pain pierced his chest It was hard to read Ryssa&039;s words because with each one, he saw her clearly in histo him

And it cut hiain "Please, Achimou?"

A ic on his resolve "You are the only being who&039;s ever called me that"

"Well I&039;d call you babycakes, but I think that ht, stop the torture I&039;ll read"

Tory watched the blurry shadow that was Ash as he took a seat near her bed and opened the book When he started reading, she closed her eyes and listened to the deep resonant tone of his voice From the ease hich he translated as he read, one would have thought it ritten in English He didn&039;t even hesitate with the words

"Today I spoke to htened up in the bed "Atlantis?"

Ash cringed as he realized what he&039;d said He&039;d actually forgotten he was reading to an outsider Tory had become such a part of him that he actually wanted to confide in her "Yeah, that&039;s what it says"

"See! I told you it was real!"

He had to cal For all you know this is an ancient Bridget Jones&039;s Diary"

She scoffed "They didn&039;t have novels back then"

"History says they didn&039;t have books, yet what&039;s this thing in my hand? It&039;s square, bound paper that&039;s been written on Looks like a book to me"

"Thank you, Captain Sarcaset back to the story?"

"Just don&039;t throw another hammer at me," he mumbled under his breath before he returned to the book "Today I spoke to ry Our negotiations with the well Uncle sent word that war could break out again at any erous for me to visit there while my brother and uncle live there Surely it&039;s not safe for" Ash paused as he saw his na hih for e as pain hit him hard in his chest-my brother home with me Someone needs to h Uncle swears he&039;s fine, I wish I could make sure of it for myself

"She wants what?" Tory pro," he lied "I think it&039;s the lighting Can we pick this up later?"

Tory frowned at the odd note in his voice It sounded like he was choking on tears, but that didn&039;t make sense "If you wish"

"Cool I&039;ll just return it to ot up and rustled around in it

"Ash?" she asked after a couple of seconds

"What?"

"Did anyone call my family?"

"I don&039;t know You wantwhen I feel fine Especially not while we have insane people chasing us I would die if one of theet Kim and find out If you need anyone" He put the hospital buzzer in her hand "I know you can&039;t see well so if you get scared at all, buzz the nurse and I&039;ll be right back"

His concern touched her "Got it"

Tory sat in the silence, processing everything that&039;d happened today The things she&039;d learned and those she still only suspected about Ash Not to mention the fact that she no she had people out to end her life any way they could over so to do?

Ash returned a few randfather and Aunt Del She said they want you to call theh that she could see him

"Thank you, Ash"

"You&039;re welcolasses over to you just as soon as she can"

She put her hand over the one Ash had resting on her railing and gave a light squeeze "Thank you for re to ask about theainst it She&039;d always thought of her hands as er than most women&039;s, but co and graceful with calluses that also marred his pal what they&039;d feel like skie"

"Yours are soft and little" She didn&039;t miss the catch in his voice before he h" He said it as if it embarrassed him

"I like your hands I think they&039;re beautiful"

"I don&039;t know about that, but they do what they&039;re supposed to uess"

She shook her head "You hate cohtened at the unwanted memories her question provoked As a hus or all-out beatings from the people who didn&039;t want to be attracted to hiiven his foret you sory"

"I&039;ll be back"

She didn&039;t e and so seductive Protective, arrogant and at same time unsure of himself Which really made no sense to her How could he ever be uncertain?

She lay there for several irl"

She smiled at the blur that was Palasses on her face Tory breathed a sigh of relief as the world caain "Bless you"

"Anytiot hit by a car and died"

Parowled at her "You&039;re not funny And where&039;s your delectable bodyguard?"

"He went to find food forand he quests for food when you&039;re hungry He&039;s a keeper So when are you going to sleep with him?"

Ash paused outside the door as he heard Panified snort "Sleep with his to do with my day I swear the way you have sex on the brain, you should have been born a guy"

"Oh yeah right, Tor, look at the man They don&039;t make a finer model than that one Trust me Unlike you, I look a lot He&039;s without a doubt the finest thing on two legs, or three if you play your cards right"

Tory let out a sound of utter shock "Stop talking about him like that He&039;d die of embarrass you right now, Tory, if you let that one get aithout sleeping with hiiven my history with men, if I tried to sleep with hiuy I tried to sleep with ended up in a body cast"

Pahed "Look at ht about it"

"I&039;m not that blind, but I don&039;t think of Ash that way I&039;m much more interested in him for his brains than his body Now move on to the next topic before I push the button and tell the nurses I&039; harassed by an insane stalker friend"

"You would, too"