Vision Quest (11 page)

"You okay?"

Blaze paused in the act of pulling out a rolled t-shirt and similarly packed pair of shorts. "Yeah," he said. "Fine. Why?"

Arik hesitated. "Nothing I just—good God." He peered into Blaze's bag. "Are those
clothes?
How did you pack that much into... You really do know magic."

Blaze chuckled. His bag was divided into compartments, his clothing rolled into tight knots and flat layers and the rest of his possessions stowed away in the most economical way possible. "Well, it's sort of my house, I guess. I keep it in order."

"It's your what?"

"It's all I own. This is everything, so ..." Blaze trailed off, fighting anxiety and melancholy tooth and nail. He thought how pitiful it must seem to Arik, his existence. How fleeting. And Blaze wanted to tell Arik that his life had been anything but short. Old habits stilled the words, killed them in his throat, because it was too soon to tell Arik that kind of truth. And Blaze had to slay the desire to stay in this hotel, wrapped up in Arik. He needed to destroy that kind of sentiment, because it'd be too damned easy for the happiness to remind Arik of all he'd lost and all he craved and how amazing it'd be if Blaze could mend and have even a portion of peace with Arik.

Ridiculous. Stupid. Impossible.

Irresponsible. Silly.

Dangerous.

Quit it.

"Hey ..." Arik rubbed Blaze's arm.

Blaze shook himself and, subsequently, Arik's hold. "Where we headed?" he asked.

"Just another place to stay that might be a little quieter. Always wanted to go there, but never had the chance or ... Someone to take with me, so. Yeah."

Blaze nodded, yanked on his shorts, shirt, and shoes, and zipped up his bag. "Okay, then. Lead on."

Arik lingered, studying Blaze with intensity that Blaze answered with an easy, practiced smile, and Arik lead them out of the room, muttering to himself. At least the man was learning not to keep every thought in his own head.

Checkout and the walk to the car were a blur. The weather was bright, tranquil, and pleasantly warm, the leather seat of the car was perfectly cushioned, and Blaze turned on the heater under his ass. Before they'd even made it onto the Interstate, Blaze was dozing, and when he woke up, Arik was humming along to the Rolling Stones on satellite radio. They were out of the city, well out of it, by the looks of the sandy, scrubby surroundings.

"We're headed to the water," Blaze said, sitting up and trying to stretch kinks out of his spine.

"We are." Arik's grin was irritatingly smug.

"How long have I been out?"

"Couple hours."

Blaze rubbed his face. He was starting to wonder if all those times he thought he'd been getting good rest were all a sham. He couldn't remember being this tired or this relaxed, and that worried him for a multitude of reasons. It never paid to get comfortable. "Why are we changing locales?"

"Because I wanted to treat you. And me, I guess."

Arik's profile was smooth and easy. There was no pinch of features, no circles under his eyes, no worry lines drawing down his mouth. "Okay," Blaze said, seizing the element of surprise. "Did you have a Vision?"

"No," Arik said, frowning at Blaze.

"Have you had one since the goat incident?"

"No." Arik's hands flexed on the wheel. "Why are we talking about—"

"What are we doing, Arik?"

"We're going to a resort, Blaze," Arik answered, mimicking Blaze's tone. Blaze hoped to hell he didn't sound that annoying, but he probably did. "It's a nice place that I've known about for years. Always wanted to go, never had the chance, figured I'd take this one. We've got to get to a ferry, park in a long-term lot, cross the water, and get to Alana Island. A car'll pick us up there and take us to the hotel. It's on an underdeveloped part of the shoreline, surrounded by oaks and wild horses, and what is up with you today?"

"What?"

"You heard me." Arik kept glancing Blaze's way, and he turned off the radio. "Did
you
have a Vision?"

"No." Blaze crossed his arms. "Not had one since ..."

"Since?"

"Since I envisioned you fucking me right before I blew you that day we went to play mini golf."

Arik hummed, hands slipping around the steering wheel until his wrists rested on his knees. "Were you bent over in front of me? Letting me hold your arms behind you?"

Blaze's cock had no business stirring, but it did, and a jolt of warmth zinged down his spine, the echoes rippling through him. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Had the same one. Or, well, for me it was more like a dream."

"You seem awfully calm about sharing dreams for a guy who hates the mystical."

"Oh, I hate the mystical, all right."

"... but?"

Arik shrugged. "Right now, it just supports my theory, which is nice, for a change."

"Theory?" Panic sprang up and rattled Blaze's heart. He couldn't have said why. "What theory?"

"Of why we're together and what this 'Quest' of yours is all about."

"Oh, think you've got it figured, do you?" Blaze's palms were sweating.

"Ayup."

"Let's hear it."

"Well, you were the one who said it first, really. The whole, 'here for you' bit?"

"It's a line I've used a lot, Arik," Blaze said. Normally Blaze would never remind a target that there had been others before him and would be more after him. Blaze didn't know why he was trying to scramble for emotional ground and distance, useless as it was inside the confines of a Quest, but scrambling he was, and he had to fight the urge to jump out of the car.

"I'm sure you have," Arik said, and he was sympathetic, not territorial, which was a little creepy. "You've had to do all kinds of things for the fucking Universe, and maybe it's time somebody else used that line on
you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I think I'm here for you, Blaze. You're here to help me not panic over my mystical shit, resolve it or whatever, but I'm here to use what I've got for or with or on ..." Arik laughed. "I don't know, whatever. You. I'm here for you."

"Arik, that doesn't make any sense."

"Sure it does."

"How do you figure?"

Arik gave Blaze a scathing look. "I didn't get to where I am in this world by being lazy, Blaze. Give me a little credit for thinking our situation over and figuring out a direction, would you?"

"Okay," Blaze said, slowly. "Tell me what you've been thinking."

"I think you were born to a poor, weird family with weirder powers. I think somewhere around puberty, your gift kicked in, and it sent you all over the world on a bunch of wild goose chases that helped out everybody but you. I still don't know how you've done so much so young, but I figure you've been doing nothing but these Quest things since you were a teenager. And I think it's utter shit that you get hurt if you don't fulfill these Visions of yours, and whether that's psychosomatic due to your familial training, I'm not sure, but I believe you when you say it happens. Mostly because that's what
my
Visions have been about."

"How so?" Blaze asked. He was dizzy. Arik was hitting too close to home on too many points entirely too casually. Blaze hooked a hand onto the oh-shit handle over the car window.

"Before I met you, I was seeing red everywhere. And then the goat melting. And even that poor kid in the oil barrel. They all melted or liquidated or... And you said that when you don't do your thing, that's what happens, right?"

"I start to bleed out, Arik, I'm not sure—"

"That's okay. You don't have to be sure. I am."

Blaze didn't know what was worse. Arik being so wrong or Blaze dying for him to be right. "Okay, benefit of the doubt, then," Blaze said. "How do you see this going? What's the endgame?"

Arik's smile was sad, and he stared at the road ahead. "Don't worry," he said softly. "I get how these things go, and I'm not entertaining fantasies that we'll be together forever or anything so juvenile." Arik's chuckle seemed a bit forced. "I guess I'll be happy to have you for as long as it takes to get you rested up and recovered. And who knows? Maybe we're supposed to be friends, right? I'm the guy you come to in between journeys or something. For some R and R?"

"Arik—"

"It's all right. It's not like my life is really conducive to a relationship, Blaze. I work all the time. I've got a life. Sort of." Arik laughed, and again, it was strained. "It's just ... sometimes that life might involve, you know ..." Arik glanced at Blaze and licked his lips. "You."

Blaze sat in dumbfounded shock for a solid minute. "Arik, that's sweet."

"I know."

"And I love that you're ... That you're the kind of person who would believe ... or who would want ..."

"Blaze?"

"What?"

"Spare me, all right?" Arik put the car into park, and Blaze glanced around, startled to find them in a lot near a pier. There was a ferry at the dock. Blaze squinted and saw it was named,
Good Fortune.
Blaze wanted to weep, and he'd not wept in too many years to contemplate.

"We're here." Arik yanked Blaze into a quick peck on the lips. "Get your bag, and let's go."

Numbly, Blaze got out of the car and followed Arik through the steps that would get them onto the ferry headed for Alana Island. It was cooler near the water, and Blaze shivered, trying not to let Arik see him do it.

Arik. What the hell was Blaze going to do about the guy? He loved that Arik was so sure-footed with purpose. Arik oozed confidence as he confirmed their passage, handed over luggage, and explained that Blaze would carry the bag strapped across Blaze's back. He could even see the logic, spotty due to partial information and too much hope as it was. Some of what Arik said did make sense. Blaze did melt when he didn't obey, but it had to be more complicated than that. It had to be for a cause more centered on Arik than Blaze, because this wretched life was Blaze's to live so long as ... Well. So long as the Universe saw fit to punish him. So long as there were still people who would remember what Blaze had done.

Blaze found a solitary spot on the ferry's railing to lean, to set down his bag, and to watch the land slide away behind them, and Arik trotted off to buy them some snacks. There was only one other couple aboard, an elderly man and woman who smiled kindly at Blaze, the poor fools. Blaze ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots, still thinking of what he could do about his situation. He knew from experience that when this much Vision information was exchanged between himself and his target this fast, then the Quest was likely to be whirlwind. And Blaze had to keep up the pace. He had to get to the heart of the matter, and fast, else he start to cough up blood and get nosebleeds and worse as the Universe tapped its foot and mashed up his insides in the process. He had to get Arik on track and thinking about how the Visions concerned Arik, not Blaze.

Blaze bent over and put his chin on the icy railing. Well, what about the connection thing? The spark? Arik likely thought that was more proof of their joined destinies, and Blaze had lied when Arik had asked if it had ever been so strong between Blaze and someone else. And Blaze had lied because he knew what had happened to the last person with whom Blaze had felt such a pull.

The man had died horribly, slowly, and while begging for his mother, right in front of Blaze, who'd been powerless to stop it. Blaze shook off that nightmare, happy, for once, that it was so old and stale that the hurt was rusty and easy to bury, because it was used to getting shoved into a box, and it couldn't put up much of a fight.

And, then again, maybe Arik did have a point. The spark had definitely linked Blaze's destiny with the dead man, forevermore. Maybe there was something more there to explore with Arik.

Because, really, what kind of man met someone with Blaze's tales to tell, had horrific Visions, and still came out on the other side, not even a week later, thinking that all of it had to mean he, Arik, the man in question, was destined to help the crazy guy who had so disrupted his life?

Blaze stood up. A man who'd been hurt would think that way. A man who'd been taught that he had to serve the insanity in his life, not rise above it, get over it, move beyond it. And one time wouldn't be enough, wouldn't be a pattern. Blaze already hated Arik's father, knew there was definitely more in that deep, dark well to excavate, but there had to be someone else.

Blaze's contemplation was cut short by Arik wrapping around him from behind. That earned them disapproving looks from the other people on the boat, but Arik didn't seem to notice in the least.

"Where's the snack, man?" Blaze asked.

"Didn't get that far." Arik buried his nose in Blaze's hair, holding on a little too tightly.

"Hey." Blaze rubbed Arik's wrist. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Arik took a shaky breath. "Something."

"Yeah?"

"Saw it again."

"Which?"

"The melting thing."

"Shit." Blaze tried to turn, but Arik wouldn't let him. "Where? Who?" Blaze asked.

"The vendor guy. Same story. Eyeballs fell out, everything melted to a gore puddle." Arik shuddered. "And he reached for me."

"Shit," Blaze repeated, but gently. He crossed his arms over Arik's.

"Yeah."

"Arik, it's going to be—"

"I know."

"But I think—"

Arik's sigh was a gush of hot air. "Just shut up and let me hold you, okay?" Arik swallowed. "No talking. No questions. Just holding." Quieter: "Please?"

Blaze fell silent, and he closed his eyes when Arik's lips brushed his pulse. It was comfort, not enticement, but Blaze's blood didn't seem to know that. The wind and the cold spray of the sea helped, and Blaze started to shiver, again.

"Man, I want a fire," Blaze said after long, long moments of the two of them entwined at the railing.

"This place has fireplaces. Real wood burning ones and the works."

"Nice."

"I think you'll like it."

Blaze waited until the initial panic and need had subsided enough that Arik stood straight and tall behind Blaze, still hugging him. "Arik?"

"Mm?"