Shifting sands

Brady had made two rules: don’t get into any trouble, and don’t get attached. Collin, ever rebellious extrovert as he was, intended to follow those rules. This mission was about proving himself, so he wasn’t going to risk anything that might compromise their success. However, that also meant taking some risks. If he was going to come out of this looking just as competent as his brother, he needed to do something big. Something valuable. He needed to find the secrets that not even all coven members knew about. He needed an in. The best way to do that was to make friends. He was still sticking to the rules— no strings attached fun, all while serving the cause. Collin was playing to his strengths.

Recently, he’d be working on a cute girl named Ashton. He’d flirted with her enough for her to decide that he needed to meet her friends. She’d sent him along to meet some guy. Collin was only doing it for the sake of gaining more of her trust. That is, he was, until he learned that he was a computer whiz librarian. His interest in Grayson personally had gone up once he learned how much of a nerd the guy was. So when he was greeted at the entrance of the library, he gave a bright smile. “I am, and she did. Grayson, right? Glad you’re here, I almost got lost like three times on my way over. This is a big ass place.”

First off, he isn’t a nerd. Grayson is a historical specialist. He blinks a few times and figures that sure, this man is... hot? In a way that he can’t quite put his finger on. “It’s pretty easy to get lost, especially considering the hallways can like... Shift? Change?” The shrug that comes next is practiced because he literally just doesn’t get it. What’s the point of making it so people, who lived in the place, could get lost? Of course, it was nice to people able to shift a hallway and get to close on time. Oh wait. “You know, that might be a test so we can learn to control magic better which just seems weird because lack of consent.” Another shrug because when has he ever understood anything that happens in this place.  Oh yeah, right, he needs to introduce himself. “Yeah. I’m Grayson. Nice to meet you.”

So the thing about being IT for an entire coven (even when that really ain’t his job...) is that there are some witches who just don’t understand the way computers or anything remotely technologically inclined worked. There was this witch in one part of the expansive mansion that was still convinced that the internet was being manipulated by an ever-expanding spider that was gathering the information for some sort of war on humanity. The entire thing was exhausting. He returns to his post in the library and cracks open his laptop, sifting through for where he left off on his archival decoding. This was his actual job, making sure all the important things of the coven’s history were available online. 

“Wait,” he immediately called out. He glanced around, trying to see if anyone heard him. They were, presumably, alone, so he cautiously waved Grayson closer. There was a part of him screaming that this was a bad, bad idea. Well, when did that ever stop him before? “Don’t leave yet.”

Grayson came to a stop and glanced back at Collin before heading back towards the witch. He blinked a few times as he got closer, still making sure to keep a good amount of distance between them -- just in case Collin got nervous. “What do you need?”

Every footsteps Collin felt in his entire body. He gripped the collar of Grayson’s shirt, trying to stay aware of where they were going. He couldn’t relax until they made it to the infirmary, and despite Grayson’s display of trustworthiness, Collin was glad to be away from him. The healers talked him through what they were doing, but all he could think of was how hunters were hiding in plain sight in the coven and that his friend was one of them. He asked them to get the Elders and his brother, which they promised to do after they worked on him. So Collin pressed his eyes shut and waited.

When they were done, the cuts and bruises were gone and Collin’s shoulder merely ached. He glanced up and saw Grayson, still there, and his expression shifted somewhere between saddened and wary. “You waited.”

Distance is such a weird thing because they were so close and yet, there was so much space. Grayson had his arms over his chest and leaned back against a wall trying to figure out the best course of action. Collin had seen them-- he knew about them now and it’d be ridiculous to ask him to not say anything. The hunters were a direct threat to his way of life, to the family that he had known his entire life. How could he ask him not to tell the Elders, to not take some sort of action when the problem was right in front of his face. Collin’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he nodded. “Yeah.” That was all he could say right now. 

A silence ensued and he knew that it was on him, it’d be his job to speak up first. “I probably shouldn’t have, but I wanted -- I wanted to make sure you’re alright.” He removed his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “I’m glad that you’re alright after that... It shouldn’t have happened to you. I’ll uh, I’ll leave you alone now.”

Collin wanted to retort, but it was becoming harder to string together a coherent argument. “How do I know that’s even your plan?” he asked, mustering up some version of anger. “You could carry me off anywhere right now.”

He tried sitting forward, with the intent of eventually pushing himself to his feet, but it only made his entire right side to seize up in pain. “Ugh,” he groaned, closing his eyes. It was obvious that he had no choice. Hunter or not, Grayson was his lifeline, and the impulse to trust him was too strong to fight, at least right now. Collin sobbed again; unable to help himself, he leaned into Grayson, giving silent permission to carry him.

“The only place I plan on carrying you is to the infirmary. I promise.” Collin had no reason to believe him or even trust him at this point, but that wasn’t enough reason for him not to try. When Collin leaned into him, he gathered him up in his arms very gently before standing up to his full height. It was strange really, how intimate this whole thing seemed-- he’d never been this intimate with anyone that wasn’t Seven before. It seemed strange, a nuanced sort of betrayal towards the other hunter almost. “I’m going to walk now.”

It took him minutes to get to the infirmary and to explain what had happened. There were some parts of the truth that he negated, but he made it crystal clear that people had attacked the witch with guns and knives. Then he stepped out of the way and let the healers do their thing. He waited and sent a text to one of the hunters from earlier to inform them that the mission had been compromised -- and to say that Thea had assigned him to Collin, that they weren’t to touch him again. When he was told he could return to the inside of the infirmary, he did so, standing just slightly out of the way to observe how the wounds had healed.

Collin stared at Grayson, hurt and betrayal plain on his face. This man— who had very quickly become a close friend— had been lying to him this entire time. More tears fell and he realized that he was more sad than he was scared. He looked away, fighting for composure because it was suddenly not safe to cry in front of the man in front of him.

It dawned on him that he was still at Grayson’s mercy; the promise of help and healing could be empty words. The blood soaking Collin’s shirt was a reminder that he couldn’t just sit here, either. And in this state he was a walking target and who knew who he could trust anymore.

“A hunter,” he whispered, fear washing over him. “And I’m an easy target?” He pressed his lips together, trying to swallow a small sob.

Grayson could see it, the emotions tracing across Collin’s features and it was like a shock straight to his chest. He’d never actively mislead someone before so this experience as new and he could that he didn’t like it much. His eyes wandered from the witch and around to the area in order to make sure that none of the hunters were coming back. If they came back to find that he wasn’t dead, things would get much worse. 

When Collin referred to himself as a target, his eyes snapped back to him. He opened his mouth before closing it a few seconds later. This was an incredibly delicate situation and needed to be handled as such. “You’re not a target, you are my friend.” The blood was becoming a problem. Grayson extended is hand out gently to touch the shoulder with no bullet in it. “Collin, I need you to listen to me. The bullet in your shoulder needs to come out and we need to get you healed up. Please, let me take you to the infirmary.”

Collin wasn’t sure if he was relieved or more panicked when he heard Grayson’s voice, but that quickly slid into shock when the hunters regarded him casually. He looked at his friend, confusion plain on his face. “Grayson?”

He tried to find a way to deny what this meant, thinking frantically of some ridiculously powerful magic that Grayson could be doing right now. Had he ever seen Grayson do magic?

The other hunters obviously trusted him to deal with their prey, because they dropped Collin and left after a quick conversation. He slid to the floor, whimpering, unsure if he was more scared or upset. Again he tried magic, and again nothing happened. Tears spilled over, and as Grayson approached he tried to move away, to no avail. “ “You’re a—” Arms were around him, carefully avoiding his wounded shoulder, and he went rigid. “N-no. Stop, Grayson. I don’t… What’s going on?”

There were probably better ways to do this -- better ways to go about saving Collin that didn’t involve him revealing who he was. Those didn’t really matter at the time and they didn’t matter now because Collin needed to get help and that was the important part of this whole thing. However, when the tears started everything stopped and his entire body came to a halt. He propped the witch up against a wall and crouched down to examine his face. It was hard to keep his face in the presence of such strong emotions. Hunters couldn’t express themselves like this, they needed to be strong. “Collin, please, let me get you to the infirmary. They can get the bullet out of your shoulder.”

He could get the bullet out of his shoulder, but it didn’t seem right to offer that. 

The syringe they used was on the ground and Grayson reached down to examine it, clicking his tongue. “They injected you with a magic suppressant -- it isn’t permanent and should only last a few hours.” A long pause as he stared at the witch and he took in a sharp breath. “I’m a hunter, Collin.”

Collin crashed into the floor, white-hot pain exploding along his back. He didn’t even hear the gun go off, nor his own scream as the bullet lodged in his shoulder. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it was enough to make the young witch crumple. That was all the time the two hunters needed to grab hold of him and slam him into the wall.

Collin had no idea how this happened, but it seemed his assailants just let him run so they could have the pleasure of shooting him. They were in the least populated area of the coven, and no one was around to hear the ambush. It caught Collin completely off guard. Not that his being on guard would have done much for him.

His eyes were still watering from the previous blows to his face, so it wasn’t obvious that he was starting to tear up. There were two hands twisting his arms, a knee pressing into his abdomen, and a gun pressed to his temple. He tried to hiss out a spell as quickly as possible, then a hand pressed to his mouth.“Tranquilize him,” the one to his left snapped.

Those words gave Collin more reason to struggle, but it was useless. The gun lowered and, a few seconds later, he registered a needlepoint pinch in his neck. Collin took the risk and tried to set his attackers on fire, if only for a few seconds. But the flames were shaky, pathetic, as small as a candle perched on their shoulders and feet. And then they went out and Collin couldn’t ignite anything more. “What… What?”

There was supposed to be some grand meeting soon on what the hunters would be doing in the coven. Grayson figured it’d be coming soon considering how many things were falling apart in terms of their plans. Victoria had disappeared and Thea was -- well, she was doing whatever the hell it was she did. In all that time that Grayson had been with the hunters, the higher ups always seemed to be so mysterious always leagues above the rest of them. It made him uneasy not knowing what anyone was thinking, but then again, he supposed it wasn’t really his job to worry about plans. He just needed to gather information. 

A gunshot caught his attention and he followed the sound and turned a corner just in time to see Collin get shoved up against a wall. His eyes widened at the sight and he clung to his corner, trying to figure out the best plan of action in this situation. He easily recognized the hunters -- Ray and Aria -- two people he’d always viewed as trouble makers. His teeth gritted and he took a deep breath as he watched them inject Collin with what must have been the new suppressant that R&D came up with. It wouldn’t last forever, but not being able to use his powers was probably a huge shock to the young witch. He ran his hands over the knife on his waist and stepped out from behind the corner. “What are you doing?”

Ray and Aria turned to greet him with a smile. “Dealing with trash. You wanna help?” Grayson shook his head made Aria lower the gun that was being pressed against Collin’s temple. He observed Collin for a few weeks and clicked his tongue at what they’d done to the witch. Karma would be swift in dealing with them. Now was the time to get them away from Collin. “The gunshot from earlier attracted other witches -- there are three heading this way. Go handle them and I’ll deal with this one then join you.”

They nodded and disappeared down the hall and Grayson turned to Collin, leaning down to examine him. “Collin,” he whispers as gently as he can and attempted to gather the witch up in his arms. “I’m going to get you some help, okay? You’re going to be okay.”

The answer didn’t seem to please Collin, who was now fixated on the fact that he was keeping Grayson from going to bed. “Okay okay, that was lucky, but I still should have thought of that before I called you.” Collin sighed loudly before quieting himself, putting a finger to his lips. He continued the drunken trek to his room, pausing outside his door. “You’re a very good friend,” he informed Grayson in a near whisper.

“Why?” Grayson asked with an arched brow. “Friends are there when you need them right?” He didn’t really see another option for this sort of situation. Who else would he have called to avoid getting in trouble? He seemed like the most logical choice. They arrived at Collin’s room and Grayson opened the door with relative ease, ushering the witch in and closing the door with his foot. “Thank you.” Grayson placed Collin on the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“You are so nice,” Collin mumbled as he took his friend’s hand. He tried once again to be useful and focused hard on closing the car door behind him. “Okay, let’s go.” Using Grayson as a balance the whole way, he staggered into the building. “It’s really late, right? Like my brother is probably asleep and… Oh shit, wait, were you asleep?” He looked at Grayson, dismayed. “I totally woke you up, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, it is pretty late. I’m sure most people in the house are asleep.” He was focused on getting Collin to his bed as quietly as possible. This whole situation might have seemed compromising to any other hunters around -- why wouldn’t he take the chance to kill the young witch? Now wouldn’t be an idea time for such things, but more than that, he didn’t want Collin to die. The more time he spent with the witch... The more he realized just how attached he was slowly becoming. “No, you didn’t. I have insomnia so sleeping is harder some days than others. I was wide awake when you called.”

Collin wasn’t paying much attention to Grayson anymore, too distracted by the sudden change of scenery. He ran his hands along the seat and absent-mindedly reached for the seatbelt. When his friend made it to the driver’s seat and spoke, it took Collin a few seconds too long to process what he was asking. “What? No, no, I’m perfect, just one… second…” he slurred. He tried three times at buckling in before succeeding, then grinned at Grayson triumphantly. “I’m ready. Did I already tell you that you’re awesome? You are saving my ass right now.”

He waited until Collin was secure to start heading back to the Coven. “Yeah,” he says with a quiet laugh. “You’ve told me.” The trip was short lived and soon he was pulling into the Coven’s entrance, disappearing into the in between dimension that blocked it from the eyes of normal people. Not that he wasn’t normal -- he just knew where to look for the right things. After stopping the car and moving around to Collin’s side, he opened the door and unbuckled the seat belt, extended out his hand again. “Let’s get you upstairs.”

In the future, Collin would probably look back on this decision with a lot of embarrassment, but right now he had to get home. Moments after making the call, he started to worry that he was asking too much. Maybe he should have just called his brother and dealt with the lecture. But it was too late now, so Collin sipped on his last drink while he waited for his friend to arrive.

When Grayson showed up, Collin immediately started to beam. “Hey!” he said enthusiastically. “I’m great, even better now that you’re here.” He grabbed his friend’s hand for steadiness as he slid out of his seat. “Thank you for picking me up. You’re awesome.”

He wasn’t used to bubbly drunk people. Victoria got vicious when she got drunk and most of the hunters just sort of got quiet. This was a welcome change. Grayson laughed quietly at the notion of him making Collin feel better -- it just didn’t seem possible. “No problem. Awesome is something I aim for so it is good to hear that I’ve succeeded.” 

His eyes wandered to the bartender briefly before he headed outside towards the car and making sure that he had a steady grip on Collin as to ensure that he didn’t fall. Once they were outside, he opened the passenger door and helped the other slide inside before closing it. He slid into the driver’s seat and started the car up. “Do you want anything before we head back?”

It was nice to see him laugh. Collin felt like he had accomplished something, considering he found the man in the middle of a burned down library. His grin widened. “I would be honored! That sounds amazing. And a much needed improvement. I can’t wait.”

Collin laughed. “Four hundred pages? That’s ridiculous. I draw the line at two.” He was still chuckling as he took another drag. “But yeah, I get that,” Collin said, nodding his head as he blew smoke into the sky. “It’s more than weird, that’s just stupid. How many good books have passed us by? Damn. You know, you should help them restock that library. It was all a bunch of dusty old novels in there. Well, plus whatever people were willing to donate, so maybe it wasn’t all bad… Anyway, they could make a shelf dedicated to Grayson’s top choices.” He chuckled again and pointed at Grayson. “I might actually go in there if they did that.”

“I don’t mind four hundred.” Which is true, when he really gets into something, he can read for a while without noticing. Grayson could read an eight hundred page book about theoretical physics no problem. However, fiction books that were just some dude jacking off on the page to show how deep he was felt like pulling teeth. When Collin suggested restocking the library, his eyes lit up at the possibilities. “I’ve noticed. I don’t understand why one place would need so many copies of Lolita, but who am I to question it?” He runs a hand down his face and laughs. “I’ll get right on the library edits then. You can be the first one in after its done.”

“You know what, I’m glad they don’t show this place off. I’d hate to share it too much.” Collin’s attention was now divided between Grayson, the view, and fishing the joint out of his pocket. “Okay, tell me about some more overrated books,” he said, dropping into one of the chairs and magically lighting a small fire at the end of his joint. “Like, are all of those classic writers unimpressive or are there a few that are worthwhile?”

He was intently focused on the scene before him and just taking it all in. Grayson had never been the type to enjoy nature much -- always favoring the calm indoors. It only grew worse when “joined” the hunters as they had him working on computers day in and day out. This seemed like a nice break, a nice moment to remember that nature could still be nice. “I wouldn’t say unimpressive. There are some that have merit, but the problem is that people only focus on them.” He shifts slightly so that he is leaning against the bar. “I just think there is this sort of weird focus on western white guys jacking off for four hundred pages without telling a good story.”