The Fall of Leor

Developing Friendship

      Turning his back he walked down the alley which she had just left to his shock she stood right around the corner.

      "You're one of them aren't you...I've heard they existed at one time, that some still existed." She muttered eyeing him but not with the emotion he expected to see.

   "Allow me to finish walking you home." He said motioning forward with his hand.

   Without a word she began to walk on him matching her strides which were shorter than his but were easy for him to match with his preternatural skill; if he'd been human he wouldn't have been able to.

   "Did he hurt you any?" he questioned, unsure if it was ok for him to ask that.

   "Huh-uh." She said with a node of her head no, "Just frightened me, and shocked me too." She continued.

   "Because he was just in your apartment yesterday?" he asked.

   "Yes...I've always known to be careful when trusting anyone...that just made it more real." He watched as she worried her lip, "Anybody really could be anybody these days."

   Her words stunned him silent for a moment as he looked at the snow on the ground. She was right, you couldn't trust anyone, even he was a danger to her and humans were still very much fragile. She shoved her hands in her pockets against the cold as they approached their apartment complex, bowing her head against the sudden gust of wind which caused her scent to flourish around him; warm vanilla. Opening the door he held it open for her the heat from the lobby felt nice on his skin though he couldn't feel the cold outside, not really. He remained silent as they mounted the steps to the second floor and all the way up to her door.

   "Well, goodnight Miss Fletcher." He said then nodded at her and headed to his apartment.

   "Um..." she began shyly.

   "Yes?" he asked.

   "Just Aria, I mean, you can just call me Aria." She said flushing brighter beneath her cold flushing, "Would you um...like to come in a minute...I mean...you did just very well save my life." She stuttered out, he found it cute the way her words tripped over each other he thought.

   "It is rather late or early if you prefer to see it that way Aria, but, if you'd like, sure." He said nodding at her.

   Opening the door she reached in and turned the light on then stepped in; he followed and closed the door behind him then rushed to help her with her coat.

   "I guess chivalry isn't dead." She said a slight tone of sarcasm in her voice.

   "Uh, I guess you could say not, well, not as long as you're around me, I come from a time where chivalry was expected." He answered scuffing the toe of his boots on the worn floorboards.

   "And when was that?" she asked earnestly.

   "Umm, well, a long time ago." He laughed lightly running his hand through his hair again, was she really interested?

   She stood and stared at him for a moment as if she were waiting for him to continue, waiting for him to say something more.

   "Over 300 years ago." He answered her eyes growing wide.

   "You don't look over 300!" she gasped then immediately flushed brightly as if she had just said the dumbest thing ever, he couldn't help but snicker lowly.

   "Well, physically I'm not, we don't age, we just...freeze in time, everything perfectly preserved that we had in life, every scar or mark such as tattoos, our hair stays the same length never growing longer than it was at the time of the change, our nails do not grow either; we are perfectly preserved in whatever age and state that we were when we were made." He answered as she moved around and filled a cup with hot water then dumped in a little packet of powder that smelt like cocoa, sugar and milk mixed, once she had stirred it she put it in a microwave for a minute then took it out and sat on her couch curling her legs up beneath her. Taking that as a hint he settled down beside her facing cockeyed towards her.