Chapter 18
Weeks had passed since the incident at Shape of Brew.
Charlie offered to lighten Hakeem’s workload—at least by a few hours—to help him get back into the swing of things, surprised and grateful their friend hadn’t been put off the café for good.
Hakeem agreed to the reduction of hours for now, insisting his Friday schedule remain unchanged.
It was the day Wendy dropped by for Jackson’s afternoon coffee after the gym, and the day Eddie was most likely going to do a coffee run.
It was part of his routine he didn’t want to give up.
On nights he worked late at the labs—unwilling to let years of work go to waste over a third-rate criminal—Dr. Widows was more than happy to offer him a ride home if Eddie couldn’t.
Turns out she passed his street on her own way home.
Since the Alexandria building is in the direction opposite of ‘Shape of Brew’ it’s the first time in years Hakeem considered her offer.
He insisted on passing her a portion of the meals he made as a thank you, a condition she was happy to oblige.
Eddie and Jackson were weary about leaving him with Dr. Widows at night, thinking two academics with minimal field experience could be put in the same position Hakeem was in all those weeks ago.
All their concerns were turned to dust when they saw Dr. Arianna Widows’ shifter form at the university labs.
She, apparently, is a giant black widow spider shifter, a powerful one at that.
Her species of shifter has a nickname when their power rivaled that of a werewolf, an Arachne.
Her Arachne form is a human upper body, with the lower body of a giant black widow.
Eight powerful legs ended in sharp tips; they could swear they heard metal clinking as she stepped.
Jackson admitted he didn’t know as much about the good doctor as he should have.
Eddie is not proud of the noise he made when she demonstrated her transformation.
Hakeem would be safe with her, gods save the soul of anyone who crossed her.
Their lives were allowed to return to normal, with one noticeable change. A change Jackson was regretting indulging, it being far too early on this March morning for it to feel like a good idea.
A few days after Hakeem was back to his usual self he asked Eddie for suggestions on increasing his stamina.
Even if he borrowed mana from Jackson or was using small spells, whose drain was lessened by the wand Jackson let him hold onto, the physical strain of casting spells was what caused him the most duress.
If he could get his stamina up he hoped to be able to defend himself better should the need ever arise, and even become a better teacher to Jackson as they explored more complex spells.
After all, what kind of teacher would Hakeem be if he asked Jackson to perform spells from his own notes that he himself couldn’t cast—not due to lack of understanding or mana, but stamina?
Yesterday, Eddie and Hakeem had asked if Jackson wished to join them on their run through Wychwood Park, a quick lap in the morning before they left for school or work that they began to run together these past weeks.
At the time Jackson agreed, the idea of spending more time together sounded appealing.
Now, on a cool and crisp Friday morning, when none of them had classes nor work till the early afternoon, Jackson wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed where it was warm. And most importantly, indoors.
The three of them were doing warm-ups at the entrance to Wychwood park that faced their building.
Jackson watches as Eddie helps Hakeem loosen up, pushing him by the shoulders as Hakeem bends forward trying to touch his toes as he sits on the ground.
Their bodies pressed together, not an inch between them.
Hakeem still hasn’t gotten used to the feeling of Eddie’s breath on his neck as he helped him stretch, his mind wandering too often for comfort.
He really should stop reading romance novels before bed—especially ones with shifters and vamp— “Let’s not go there” Hakeem thinks to himself, reining in his runaway train of thought.
Eddie can’t help but notice the tension in Hakeem’s shoulders as he helps him stretch these mornings they went out for a run together.
He saved the man the embarrassment of mentioning the blush running across Hakeem’s cheeks, hoping to hide the redness of his own when their bodies were so close.
Eddie helps people stretch all the time; the feel of their bodies and breath had never elicited such a reaction from him before.
Now he just hoped Jackson wasn’t looking at either of their faces too closely, or blamed the redness on the chill in the air.
Eddie wears black sweats, white sneakers, and a white tee this morning.
It’s chilly out, but he runs hot so cool air is a relief.
Jackson is in a black and red tracksuit (designer), it keeps him warm enough, especially if they were going to work up a sweat on their excursion.
Hakeem has a puffy coat over a matching blue and silver tracksuit.
Hakeem is extra sensitive to the cold but doesn’t want such a simple fact to deter him from working on his stamina.
The run is more of a brisk jog, Eddie and Jackson having to slow their pace to match Hakeem’s as they thread through one of the park’s running paths.
They both have years of physical training under their belts, and whilst Hakeem wasn’t out of shape per se, he’s definitely used to more lab work.
Compared to the kitchen or the cafe, Hakeem’s stamina for these morning runs is definitely lacking in comparison, but Eddie can see the slow and steady improvement.
Hakeem’s unwillingness to give up on their training being a major player in the fact.
The group slows as they reach a fallen tree trunk, perhaps from the wind storm the night prior.
They could hear the howls as it threatened to burst the terrace doors open.
Surprisingly the mana well on the terrace remained unbothered.
Hakeem said it anchored itself with the mana stored inside.
Jackson needed to find somewhere else for it, he had kept putting off.
Eddie had said it was fine where it was, it even seemed to keep the snow off the terrace.
Hakeem gave a lecture on that too, but they had both been too enamored by his passion on the subject to comprehend what he was saying.
Something that Jackson had to be sure didn’t happen during lessons. Hakeem was scary if he thought you weren’t paying attention to the answer of a question you had asked. It was something they both admired about him. Though when that began, neither could tell.
Not wanting to turn back early, Eddie bends down to pick up the felled tree with one hand, well-defined ass shown off by his shorts, and tosses it to the side where it wouldn’t block anyone’s path.
The compression shirt stretches thin over the lines of Eddie’s back, muscles flexing with every movement.
Those thick thighs could save lives!
Jackson and Hakeem are still impressed by the man’s strength, the fallen tree wasn’t small by any means but Eddie didn’t even break a sweat.
It was as though he brushed a branch out of their path.
“After you, gentlemen.” Eddie gestures to the cleared path, flashing Jackson and Hakeem a wide smile that shows off his pearly whites.
If they weren’t flushed from the jog, their cheeks were definitely turning red at the sight before them.
They quickly avert their gaze from where Eddie’s shirt stretches over his piercings.
Their breath fogs around them, a slight sweat building on their foreheads despite the chill in the air. They keep a steady pace as they reach the halfway point, a comfortable silence between them.
As the group is about to turn back, Jackson stops in his tracks.
His ears are sharp, the perks of elven heritage, and his sense of smell strong from vampiric blood that flows through him.
He could hear the sounds of something whimpering, an injured animal perhaps?
But then he smells it, the air sour with a copper tang—blood.
Jackson pauses on instinct, the smell of blood still affecting him though he wasn’t a true vampire.
It wasn’t till he hears a scream rip through the air from ahead of him that he realizes he had missed the smell on their way up through the park, probably due to the direction the wind is blowing.
Hakeem’s shriek rattles Jackson, the thought of the incident from weeks passed haunting the back of his mind.
He runs to catch up, only to find Hakeem grabbing his mouth and stomach, hunched over to the side of the path while Eddie rubbed circles on his back.
Jackson sees it then, the trail of blood that leads to the other side of the path from where Hakeem tries not to throw up.
He sees a twitching leg surrounded by the gore of some predator’s meal.
Raccoons, little bandits of the night, nothing more than shredded fur and dried blood.
Off to the side, hidden by a bush, the source of the twitching leg.
A small raccoon just barely clinging to life, lies on the ground.
Poor thing, there was nothing any of them could do. He hates seeing Hakeem in distress. If it was just the injured creature it probably wouldn’t have shocked him as much, but the remains of a hunt could be too much for someone not accustomed to the sight of death.
Someone like you.
Nope, no. Jackson isn’t going to let the voice taunt him today.
“Eddie, how is he?” Jackson calls from over his shoulder.
“He should be okay, just startled and maybe a little nauseated.”
Hakeem gives a shaky thumbs up. It would just take him a moment to compose himself.