Broken Bridges

Why was it that the only woman in his life without cloth ears was Eniko? She had been happy to wait til later, when maybe they could all go to the carnival together – safety in numbers, yes? – Alex would’ve done anything he’d asked, and Harmony, oh, she would’ve argued him down if he’d suggested it to her, pushing his buttons until he caved and they’d gone as soon as she wanted anyway. At least he’d have had some control then. Aliz though ….

The quiet click of the door next door, the one his sisters shared – Alex being on the other side, all three close enough now – would’ve gone unnoticed if he hadn’t been in the room alone. Setting aside the tattered book he’d found in the motel office. Text big enough even a child could have read it, although the man and woman on the front cover certainly weren’t posed in what he would call child friendly positions. The woman manning the desk there had grinned at him, sending the heat rushing up his face, but the moment she’d turned her back he’d taken it with him anyway. Viktor flipped the edge of the covers over it, brows furrowing as he crept towards the windows. That blush would be the least of it if Harmony found it. Those scenes, the ones he’d been able to pick apart with what English he knew, they would have her cackling. While he cursed.

Aliz. Scurrying away like hunching her shoulders would hide her from her family. Soha nem hallgat. Mindig úgy csinálja, ahogy akarta. Soha nem használja a neki adott értelmet arra, hogy kétszer is meggondolja a dolgot. When he caught her he would shake her until her teeth rattled and maybe some crumb of common sense would break free and roll around in her empty head like a marble.

He considered thumping a fist next door to see if Eniko was there, or Alex on the other side, but if they were they either would’ve been with her or talking her out of it … since the two of them and their cousin were the only ones she would talk to now. And Harmony. Scowling, Viktor crammed his feet into his boots, grabbed his wallet – thin as it was given that he hadn’t risked getting a job here in town – and headed for the door. Somehow Harmony and his sister had ended up shopping together, an arrangement that had maybe taken some of the sting out of the thorny words Aliz would try and throw her way after the pregnancy that hadn’t been, but probably not much. He had left them behind and instead of rushing back, had partnered up with a pretty woman they neither knew or trusted not to have somehow messed with his head and convinced him not to go back to his family.

Hülyeség.

Hands shoved deep in his pockets, Viktor trailed his sister across town to the carnival. He kept his distance as they walked, knowing she would be able to sense him almost as easily as he could her. At the edge of the crowds he lost her for a moment, the lights and sounds swallowing her up. There was a breathless moment as a crowd of teenaged boys knotted together, crowing, shoving, shooting him sour looks as he shoved through the middle of them. Aliz wasn’t there. She moved through the crowds like an eel, small enough to wriggle through all those tight spaces. Small enough that he almost missed her in the queue at one of the rides.

He'd rushed past without seeing her, then on the way back had seen her. Luckily a constantly moving stream of people had divided the two of them. A shield for him, something she’d probably thought would give her cover, freedom. In the time he’d been searching his way down the length of the carnival she’d reached the front of the queue. Viktor grabbed the top of the metal railings used to form the queue and leapt over the top. ”Sister,” he explained to the man guiding people in. ”Sorry.” The accent was laid on thick enough that maybe the words were barely understandable. Just a rude European, no need for a fight.

Giving Aliz no room to escape, he slipped into the carriage next to her. His fingers were already applying the belt, pulling his tight before he reached over to check hers. The man gave him a look but Viktor just shot his sister a grin and stretched his arm across the back of the cart. ”Not happy to see me, sister? Hetek óta bujkál előlem.” And would have kept on hiding until either he’d pushed it or her temper had finally faded enough to allow him to explain again.

Tagged: ALIZ KOVACS * Word Count: 796
Translation: Never listening. Always doing as she wanted. Never using the sense given to her to think twice about anything of it. / Bullshit / You've been hiding from me for weeks

Subtlety didn’t seem to be a trait that ran in the Kovacs blood. Some would have said it was the gypsy in them, but that was no real excuse. Passionate emotions weren’t restricted to the Romani. Or to being a werewolf. It was merely them and none of them were at all subtle when they felt something. Alex’s sweetness poured out like a cloud - innocent like a small child, despite everything that happened - Eniko was quieter, but you pushed and she stood up just as fierce. He wasn’t abought to bring himself up, not even in his own head. He was nothing compared to Aliz.

He could have waited for her to return from the carnival and let the fireworks explode in the motel, but that would likely have meant Harmony, Alex, Eniko and Tazi all wading into it. Aliz was pissed at him, not them, his wsa the only head she had to butt. Oh, and she was trying to already.

Viktor scowled as he caught Aliz smiling at his appearance. He was sure she’d be more angry than anything. Brushing the carnival worker aside with an excuse he must have heard a thousand times before, he cut the front of the queue. If it had been anywhere but this painfully polite little town there would’ve been a fight. Tempers and fists flying. The worst he got was a dirty look from the teenager at the front of the queue, as though they would have joined his sister in the cart anyway. Blue eyes narrowed at him for a second, like there was a real possibility to it.

Sliding closer, Viktor grabbed for her belt, the frown giving way to that bright grin he knew would tick Aliz off - it likely would’ve done even before he’d left them behind to … to be seduced by Harmony. As though he had stopped thinking about them for a moment and had no intention of getting back to them. Soha! Never. Ruddy brows hitched, the snort rolling out of him as he shoved Aliz’s hand away to tug at her belt again, hopefully leaving it uncomfortable. ”Really? Yet always the hard way.” Both of them rushing into things without a second thought - his head proving harder than hers though. Remembering the way she had flopped lifeless as a doll when they had pulled him from the water that day, Viktor sucked a breath into a suddenly tight chest.

Flopping back into his seat, Viktor turned his back on the attendant, hunching his shoulders beneath the cover of his jacket. What was the man going to do? Try and drag hm out of there? No, no chance of that, which meant that Aliz was trapped with him for as long as the ride ran. Cursing under his breath, Viktor dragged his other hand over his face, muttering into his palm. ”Until you saw her, yes? Harmony the enemy, the one making me forget you, all of you?” As though Harmony had the power to do it. She could drive him crazy, she could have the itch and heat under his skin growing until he had to get his hands on her to ease it, she could break his heart when she let those softer parts of herself out - the parts Aliz hadn’t seen.

His jaw went tight as the ride started to roll. Slowly at first, the little carriage beneath them chugging into life. He could have had it purring in hours, but that wasn’t his job here - keeping his family safe was. ”Ostobaság. Az egészet. No steal. We protect each other, look together. Why you not see?” Because Harmony didn’t make it easy. He would protect her at almost any cost, but Viktor knew the games Harmony liked to play, especially when that softer part of her was at threat of being revealed. Cut them first and they could not come at you to do the same.

Tagged: ALIZ KOVACS * Word Count: 661
Translation: Never//Nonsense. All of it.