Dream Runners (ON HOLD)

Part 11

~~~Owen~~~

I bit my tongue, preventing more words from spilling though my lips. I was tired, stressed, irritated, but that was no reason for me to take it out on this innocent slip of a girl, yet something about her got under my skin like nothing else. She destroyed the control I was so famous for, and words I thought should never be directed at another person lashed out at her. Her face went blank, and she nodded, calmly. To calm. She asked to ride by herself, and I didn't blame her-if I were her I'd want to be as far from me as possible right now, so I gave a short nod, demanding that she follow right behind me. She walked away to intercept Brandon, they exchanged a few words, and she tore out of the lot. Of course she wasn't going to wait for me.

"You just made a big mistake Owen." My best friends voice came from behind me as he rounded this side of the car. I shrugged, feigning nonchalance, though everything in me screamed that he was right.

"She'll be fine. What is it about her that has all of you babying her and wrapped around her finger?" I bit out, jaw clenched. I knew I was being irrational, and the look Sean gave me said he knew it too.

"You're so thick sometimes I'm tempted to take a hammer to your skull."

"What do you mean?"

"Owen, if she's still around in the morning I'll be surprised. You just told her that she's a burden and that you wanted nothing to do with her-this being the girl who didn't even want me to stitch up her gaping wounds due to fearing that it'd be to much trouble." He waited for that to sink in, and I felt my heart clench in my chest. He'd told me about that, but I hadn't been listening to the meaning behind it. He'd warned me. I hadn't paid attention.

"Someone should follow her."

"Axel's already on it, and I think Corey and Raven are going to meet him at the apartment in a bit."

"Sean we don't have time to deal with her insecurities." I sounded like a cold bastard, but did I care?

"We have to make time. Don't think about the mission, don't think about the Council. Think about her, as a person, without the Dream Runner issues. What would you do if you came across someone like her?" I knew what I'd do, I'd help her no matter what. He nodded knowingly, and I sighed.

"I messed up."

"Tell her that."

"I don't stand a chance of gaining her trust after this-"

"She'll surprise you. She's surprised us all thus far."

~~~Raven~~~

I cursed Blackbourne as Corey and I drove. He'd chased her away-between him and Axel she would never stay, not where she wasn't needed. I remembered how long it had taken me to get her to trust me the first time, to let me train her in knives. To listen while I talked, showed her how to stand, and even longer before she'd let me touch her to correct her stance or grip. I remembered the first day I saw her like it was yesterday.

I stood from where I'd been dropped to my knees after the Between, brushing off my black pants. I was sans shirt, as usual, knives in hand and gun tucked into the back of my waist band. I just hoped that I had bullets last time, I'd forgotten to bind them to me last week.... That had been awkward.

A rustling in the tree over my head drew my attention, and I looked up, catching sight of a blond head of hair and a slim figure-a girlish figure. She was young, likely around 10-12 years of age, and I frowned. I'd never seen a female before, as far as I knew they weren't able to access Dreamscapes. Where was her group? Anyone who came her had one, so where was hers? I saw that she was climbing higher, trying to get away from me, and I scowled, calling out to her in Russian.