After that night, he never asked again. Though he never said goodbye, Angel knew he would return. He always found a quiet spot in the room for himself on the floor. He devoured Angel’s meager collection of books in a matter of mere weeks and Angel noticed others, new additions to his collection he had never seen before. He had so many questions, especially when he chanced a glimpse at one of the older looking books that had shown up and found that the words within were completely foreign to him.

At first he didn’t notice it. It was so subtle, but over the course of their time in silence, he drew closer. He never looked up, never stared... never drew attention to himself in any way, quite the opposite. If he laughed at something within the pages he was reading, he’d often cast his eyes about the room and apologize before Angel could even enquire what he had found humorous, effectively closing the conversation before it started. There was something there though. There was something and Angel just wasn’t sure how to process what it meant. He always crossed his legs toward him. He always left the side of his body that was closer to Angel open. Sometimes he would look up at him with this expression, so haunted, and then his fingers would rise to his mouth as if he were remembering something he had tasted, but before Angel could ask what had troubled him, it was gone like a cloud on a bright clear day. When he smiled he always looked at Angel first and then quickly looked away... and every morning when he said he had to go, he left him with a touch that could have been accidental, but then began to linger. It was so subtle, but it made Angel smile. When he failed to say goodbye, it meant he would come back. Maybe it wouldn’t be the very next night, but soon. Angel would see him again soon. Angel would look to the rooftops as he walked the streets, knowing that he was there and that he would return, unable to hide the soft smile that would touch his lips. He shared himself with so many people but what he enjoyed the most was sharing the silence, the quiet moments, alone with him.

Deep breaths. This was necessary. He could see that. The offer had been extended. It wouldn’t have been if it hadn’t been meant. Why did he need to take deep breaths if he didn’t need to actually breathe? He let all the air out of his lungs in one great rush. The offer had been extended. A small piece of paper was in one hand and his phone was in the other. He painstakingly put the number in. His thumb hovered over the call. The screen went black and he whimpered. The offer wouldn’t have been extended if it hadn’t been meant!

The phone came back to life the instant he touched it and this time he pressed the call button. It rang and rang again and…

Hullo?..   

The voice on the other end had that unmistakable accent from a language that had been long dead. It sounded a bit tired. He’d forgotten about the time change. Oh gods it must have still been daylight hours there.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I forgot about the time difference. I…”

Stop. Before you apologize for something, you have to have done something wrong, and I don’t even know who this is. Tell me who this is and then you can be sorry all you want.

“Oh… I… sorry. It’s Dallieh.” His voice cracked at the end and he took one breath too many which he huffed out all at once. If he hadn’t, he would have said he was sorry all over again.

Dallieh! I’m so glad that you called! I had wondered if you would… actually.

“I meant to sooner, much sooner. It’s hard to learn to stay in touch when you are meant to disappear.”

Well, you have called now, and that is a good first step. I imagine though, there is a reason other than to simply catch up?

Dallieh cleared his throat and shook his head in a small effort to clear it before trying to talk again.

“Yes. Yeah I did… There are some things… coming. I guess I’m trying to say that I… may be in one place for a while. A general place. So… I wanted to see if you would be able to forward some information along. I can text you the addresses and the contacts. Will it put you at risk?”

They both knew what he meant when he said that and there was a tentative pause. Certainly Vengeance was watched but for as big as he was, he was about as slippery as Dallieh. He was where he was because he put himself there and so he had earned himself a minimal amount of freedom. He, for whatever reason, came back… and if he wanted to get away, was it really worth expending the manpower to try to keep him caged? He was big and knew how to use himself. His previous life as a pit fighter had granted him the ability to do a lot of damage in a short amount of time, now you could add in his ability to change into a lynx with the power he could maintain when he became blood drunk, and no one wanted to deal with Vengeance on a bad day. That was how it was before he had become a nearly ancient being. Now he had also been around a long long time, so he had wisdom on top of the chaos.

Heh, nah. I can figure it out. Just tell me what you need and check in from time to time. You may see me switch up carriers so it’s spread out and not a lot of material moving your way from one place, and I’ll have to stagger things, but anything is doable.

“Thank you. I’ll owe you again.”

You didn’t owe me in the first place. It’s all the least that I could do for an old friend.

Dallieh sighed and his shoulders relaxed. He couldn’t argue.

“If there is anything that you ever need in return,  please let me know.”

Well… if you could somehow… kill Gray, that would be most excellent. That would be the one thing I can’t readily do myself.

“I will, trust me. I had the opportunity once but… something important came up and I missed my chance. I’ll tell you that story sometime… when I’m not in the middle of it. Is he… there now?” Dallieh did his best to sound like he wasn’t anxious.

Yes, for now. He’s been up to no good and I don’t know what has him rattled. It’s been harder to get anything done… not that I have a lot to do that he would care about. There are just eyes everywhere.

He was really going to owe him. They continued talking for a few hours. It was more than pleasant to have another person who would understand. Vengeance had written things down. Apparently that was much better than a text as he often wrote down shreds of information and no one knew what any of it meant. There were actually bets about what it could be: addresses for people he intended to eat or had eaten, years and places for things he wanted to remember, maybe markings of page numbers and names or a few words from books, no one knew which and it only made him that much more amused. Dallieh would not be able to track anything. It would be too inconsistent for that. There were a couple things that would come in short order and that’s what he cared about the most. Vengeance said there were a few others that could be trusted and that one was more local. His brain was too eccentric for any of the others to lay hold of. Dallieh mentioned that he had found some others himself. They had a lot to share.

Now he sat thoughtfully in the darkness. Eyes with shifting colors played through his mind like a lullaby, a voice that didn’t laugh even when he was laughing. He hadn’t expected to ever find a place where he wanted to be. Maybe it wasn’t so much a place, but the person. He could feel him drawing closer. He could feel the invitation for him to be near. It was intoxicating. He couldn’t bring himself to resist.