Snippet #2788999

Phoenix could feel a burning gaze into the side of his head, and he knew exactly who it was coming from. A sideways glance at Jaiden confirmed that. He knew exactly what that look meant. It meant he'd be getting a stern talking to the minute this handsome stranger walked away. At best.

The man asked for a scone and asked about the jams. His comment about Phoenix making his day made Phoenix blush a little, but somehow, through some miracle, he kept his composure. "Sure thing. One blackberry scone..." he said, fishing the pastry out of the display cabinet and putting it on a plate for the man. "And just give me a minute to go find you some jam," he said, before heading in to the kitchen. The jam had been something to mostly lure in a few of the grandmothers in the town, who had always requested Phoenix to make them jam. It was something about berries that grew under the influence of his magic, they said. He'd always had berry bushes at home, which had come with him to live on his balcony now.

While in the kitchen, he exhaled heavily, taking advantage of the alone time to give himself a mental warning. Hunters in town meant that strangers equaled bad. He should know that, did know that. Besides, the man at the counter was way, way out of Phoenix' league. He was just entertaining Phoenix, that was all. His minute up, he quickly fired a text off to Jaiden. "Quit looking at me like that, you'll scare the customers off." He fished out an armful of jars of blackberry jam and went back out to the counter.

"Three jars of my finest blackberry jam. Berries were grown by yours truly. And if it meets your approval, come back in any time and I'll fix you up. My name's Phoenix, by the way," he said as he handed over the jam. "So, what brings you to town? We don't get many newcomers here, and I know I haven't seen you around here before. I wouldn't forget a face like yours," he said. The one, tiny, sensible part left in his brain swore at him, but it was too late to take it back now.

Evelyn listened as the man spoke, explaining why certain Hunters were marked and others weren't. It made sense, really, so that other hunters could tell the good from the bad. And possibly so the supernatural could too. But it didn't exactly console her if it were the bad ones that were targeting the town. She had millions more questions and comments to make, but he basically told her to stay quiet until they were indoors. As if they didn't already look suspicious as hell carrying a guy through the woods like this, they were doing it in silence. She managed to hold her tongue for a few more minutes, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"You said that you were able to pick up on the fact that I'm new to this just because you've been around so long. What exactly was it that gave it away? The fact that I didn't apply SPF all over my body? Because the one I use is kinda expensive and it's really nice and almost too nice to waste on parts of my body that I'm gonna be covering anyway. Or, like, is it something else entirely?" She asked, readjusting her grip on the man's feet. From the little she knew about the supernatural, lycans tended to be incredibly strong, so she knew that Markus could probably handle him all on his own. But she liked feeling like she was helping, and besides, she wanted to stay on his good side. If he was experienced, he might be able to help her out.

"Oh wow, is this your house? It's really cute. Totally worth trekking out to the middle of the woods for, to be honest. And I bet it's super peaceful out here. I've never even been this deep into the forest. I bet you can see the stars really clearly out here," she remarked. Seeing the stars was her favourite part of having to stick to the hours of darkness. Out here, it was so remote that you could see every constellation, and on some nights they were so bright she didn't even need to rely on her improved night vision.