Hollow Repentance

- - - - - Torren's POV - - - - -

Swinging my leg back over her body, I stood up and held my hand out to her. She looked at it questioningly and glanced past to stare at me.

"It isn't an option, you know. You either take my hand or I pick you up by my shirt!"

It didn't take another word. She placed her shaking hand in mine and I closed my fingers gently but firmly. I took her other hand as she stretched it towards me and lifted her quickly to her feet. She stood swaying on the spot and I realised there was very little chance of her making it downstairs.

Dropping slightly lower than her, I threw her hands onto my shoulder and wrapped my arms around her waist, standing up with her resting comfortably on my shoulder. I was used to this sort of thing in my line of work, but not usually with a girl. And never before with a human girl.

Wandering to the door, I glanced back and surveyed the room, before turning into the hallway and down the many flights of stairs towards the lounge. As we reached the last flight of stairs, I paused on the bottom step and listened carefully to her deep rhythmatic breaths. Turning to the mirror on the wall, I moved to see her face in the reflection.

Aw, bless her! She must have fallen asleep on the way down here. I had wondered why I didn't have a black eye or a broken nose yet. Carrying her carefully into the lounge, I began to rearrange the pillows on the sofa into a nest-like shape.

As I picked up the last few pillows, I heard the door latch click shut and watched in anticipation, dropping the cushions and wrapping my arms tighter around her, pulling her body closer to mine. I don't know why I was acting so protective all of a sudden. To my relief, I heard Dimi's voice chirp loudly from the hallway,
"Torren? Where are you? It's me, Dimi."

As soon as his energetic face appeared around the corner into the room, I stared at him with an expression I had hoped he would realise meant; 'Shut up!' Crossing the room silently to where I stood with the girl still draped over my shoulder, he eyed me questioningly and I heard his voice echoing quietly in my head,
"Torren, why do you have that child hung over your shoulder?"

Smiling slightly, I sent a message back into his mind. It's not as though we couldn't talk, it was more the fear of waking her. Telepathy was one of the more useful skills we had obtained long ago, especially helpful when we could communicate over considerable distances.

"I untied her about ten minutes ago and brought her down here so I could keep an eye on her while I made dinner. The child fell asleep on the way down so I'm arranging the sofa to let her sleep better. Just give me two minutes then we can go somewhere else to talk. Okay?"

Dimi nodded with a broad grin and stepped back to allow me some space. I patted the last pillows into position and embraced the child firmly in my arms, leaning forwards to lay her down gently. Dimi watched intentely as I lifted her away from me and laid her on the sofa in a single fluid movement. Covering her up to her neck with a fleece blanket, I watched the child snuggle into the pillows and settle into a deep sleep. Silently, I followed Dimi out onto the porch where we could talk normally but still keep an eye on her.

"Listen, Torren. I know how you feel about this girl, so I've talked to my colleagues and we've taken up this whole issue with both councils, ours and the humans. They weren't too pleased to begin with, but once they understood what she'd been through and the risk she would be for the exposure of our world, they agreed immediately. Also, they have assured me that since she is under your supervision and you have full support from the entire medical team, there is no safer place in the world for her isolation than with you. As of now, you are her legal guardian, with full confinement rights and the basic powers over her. Well, as soon as you get it done, that is."

I stared at him in disbelief. There was no way in the world that this child would actually let me take her into town and get that sort of thing done without some very strong sedatives and perhaps several heavy duty chains and padlocks! Ha, it would be very difficult.

"They still do that?! Oh well, I suppose I can't disobey the rules. Plus, it's a new challenge; the hardest yet, in fact. Umm, I'll go in two days if you would be willing to give me some assistance. I'll send for Aldin in the morning and ask him for extra support. I may be able to handle her usually, but if she realises that something's going on, it'll be dangerous even for the two of us. These arrangements are exactly what you will report to the council in the meantime."

Dimi nodded and crept to the girl's side, kneeling down beside her and gently sweeping her hair out of her face. He closed his eyes and I felt him enter my mind once again. He opened his eyes and looked back to her as he spoke through my mind.

"She sure has changed a lot since then, hasn't she? It's nice to see she kept her strong attitude and became such a beautiful young human."

I mumbled and stared down at her tender face as she slept carelessly. I started wondering what her name was, but felt it inappropriate to ask. Dimi had been listening to my thoughts and I only noticed when I had closed my mind to the subject. I glared at him momentarily, forcing him to avert his eyes and turn back to her. I stared at him for a moment then headed towards the kitchen, where I stopped in the doorway and whispered,
"Anyway, I'd rather she told me her name herself. It would mean more coming from her. I need to make dinner now, will I be needing to make an extra portion?"

He approached me slowly with his hand rooting around in his coat and chuckled as he passed me to lean against the island in the centre of the kitchen. I merely stared at him questioningly as he pulled a paper bag from his coat.

"I was worried you'd be planning on making a meal for this poor child and I know how hopeless you are, so I brought you both some take out from in town. I've already eaten mine on the way here. Anyway, I thought you might like some company for a while, give you a rest from watching her all of the time. Oh, and there's enough for five humans in there, so Torren, you're only allowed four portions!"

I mocked him and took the bag appreciatively. I finally relaxed my mind, certain that Dimi wouldn't dare enter my mind again. How wrong I was... Just as soon as I stopped blocking Dimi's powers, I heard his voice ringing in my head.

"By the way, if you'd like to know, her name is Koerta. Just to even the odds. I know she overheard me calling you last time I was here."

"Hey! Get out of my mind, Dimi! I didn't really want to know. Damn you! But that is a pretty unusual name - Koerta... haha!"

As soon as I had sensed Dimi leave my head, I rushed up to Koerta's room and dropped the bag onto the chest of drawers. I returned within seconds to find her still sleeping soundly. Bringing my meal into the lounge, I perched on the edge of the sofa and watched Dimi relax into the armchair, switching on the television and turning the volume down low so Koerta wouldn't be disturbed.

We decided to watch the humans’ news while I ate. It was always a wise move to know what was going on in the human world, just incase some of my guys were involved in any incidents.

We were a little off schedule for catching the news as it was almost finished, but we caught the last few moments of the final story. I gaped at what I was seeing. It was Koerta's picture filling the entire screen with the message 'Missing' in bold writing above.

Luckily, I had missed her name being mentioned. I didn't need her full name ruining for me, now that Dimi had told me her first name, there was only her surname left to discover. Neither of us could choke out a word, we merely stared between each other and Koerta. Eventually, we decided that it would not cause any issues for us and continued to watch random programmes until the sun was due to rise.

Flicking the television off, I picked the child gently from the sofa and settled her on my shoulder, just as before. Slowly, we headed back up to her room and I was feeling a little bit guilty that she didn't get to see the downstairs of the mansion in the end. As we reached the hallway, I heard her heart rate quicken and she began to stir.

"She's waking up. You might want to hold back slightly."

Nodding silently, Dimi backed off and followed several steps behind me as we approached her room. Her fists lightly pounded against my shoulder as she drowsily tried to push away from me. Chuckling quietly, I set her down on her feet opposite the door, leaning her against the wall. I glanced over as Dimi laughed at her uneasy stance. As her feet touched the ground, I felt something cold and hard brush against my arm and merely shrugged it off.

"Come on then, child. Let's see how awake you are. Try and walk in a straight line to your door."

— :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: — :-: —