393Orion's Star
Chapter One
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Ryan Star was having a bad day, a very bad day. First he had over slept, and then barely had time to grab a shower when he got soap in his eyes. He couldn't find a clean shirt, and had managed to burn his breakfast. Leaving the apartment, his key had broken in the lock, and he had missed his bus. Now he was standing in front of his boss's desk listening to the man yell at him for being late.
"I have very important things to do and don't have time to wonder where you are." The man hissed. Ryan only nodded then sighed once the man waved him out of the office. Mumbling to himself, he went to his desk to put his stuff down before moving to get coffee and a bagel for his boss.
Walking back into the office, he set the stuff down, but saw the handsome man only grunt at him before tossing a few files towards him. Picking up the files, he headed to his desk to see if he could figure them out. He knew that his boss wouldn't tell him what to do, just expecting him to figure them out himself.
He had been working for several hours when he became aware of someone standing in front of his desk. Looking up he raised an eyebrow at the woman. "What?"
"Did you get yelled at?" she asked softly, before glancing at Mr. Timpson's door.
"I did," Ryan said, his eyes following hers to the door. "He wouldn't even listen, and he called me Brian again."
"Well, come on, it's lunch time." She said.
"Come on Mel, I can't, I've got a ton of work," Ryan turned back to his work.
"Come on Ry, you need to eat," Melody shook her head. Ryan glanced around and found that he was hungry since what he had eaten that morning has been nasty. With a sigh he got up, nodded and followed after the woman. "Besides, there's this really cute new guy at the deli."
"Like I need another domineering male in my life," Ryan muttered. He saw Melody smile as they left the office to head across the street to the deli.
"You need a man in your life," Melody replied, laughing at the look on the boy's face. "Besides, that asshole you dated in college isn't coming back, thank god for that."
"Hey," Ryan huffed as they entered the deli and got their lunch. Ryan glanced at the new guy, while he was cute, he looked about fifteen. Heading back outside, Ryan found a table it sit at. They ate lunch in silence, before heading back to work. Ryan knew that he would be at work late again, since he still had a ton to do.
"Where the hell have you been?" Mr. Timpson hissed as soon as Ryan got back to his desk.
"Lunch, sir," Ryan replied sitting back down.
"Did you get those files done?" He tapped his foot as he waited.
"Mostly, sir," Ryan handed half the files back to the man.
"I have a meeting in fifteen minutes, I needed those done," Mr. Timpson replied glaring at the boy.
"Yes sir," Ryan said. He watched as Mr. Timpson went back into his office. Shaking his head he worked through the rest of the files, finding that it didn't take him more the eight minutes to finish the rest. Walking them over to his boss' door, he knocked.
"You have them finished?" Mr. Timpson demanded as soon as Ryan was through the door.
"Yes sir," Ryan stood at the end of the man's desk as Mr. Timpson looked through them. Finally the man gave an abrupt nod.
"Take that stack, and come on," Mr. Timpson stood and headed out of the office. Picking up the designated files, Ryan walked behind him. He wondered at where they were going, because he knew that Mr. Timpson normally didn't have him come along to meetings. Entering a conference room, he placed the files were the man indicated and turned to his boss.
"Sir?"
"Get coffee, and then run across to the deli, they have an order for me," he was told before being waved out of the room. The boy's eyes widened slightly before he bolted from the area. Getting the coffee he made his way back to the conference room. Setting it on a side bar, he made his way back out of the room to leave the building.
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Ryan checked the little clock on his computer, and saw that it was nearly ten at night. Putting the last file in his box he sighed as he leaned back. Of course Mr. Timpson had already left; in fact, his boss has left at quarter to five leaving Ryan to work on his backlog. Getting up he grabbed his coat and stuff and turned to leave the dark office. He was the last person there.
After the meeting, Mr. Timpson has informed him that he had to have all his files finished by the end of that night. Even though most of them weren't due until the first part of next month, which was three weeks away. So he had stayed, and called his aunt to tell her that he wouldn't make it to dinner. She wasn't happy, but she knew that his job was important to him.
Leaving the building he glanced around bundling up slightly at the cold. It sucked that he didn't have a car and wondered if the buses still ran this late. Turning towards the bus stop he started to walk, he had not realized that this part of town would be so empty this time of night. Burying his hands in his jacket pockets, he bent his head against the wind. He hated his gorgeous boss. It wasn't fair that the man was so gorgeous, yet had the personality of a rock.
Ryan paused, glancing around he listened hard and heard a soft mewling sound. Frowning, he walked closer to the edge of the sidewalk and looked down. He saw a small cat with a string wrapped around its paw that seemed to be stuck to the drain. Bending down he moved to free the poor scraggly looking animal. Once it was free, he went to pick the animal up and yelped as he got scratched and the animal took off into the road.
Cursing, Ryan saw a car coming and knew that if the driver didn't slow down it would hit the cat. Muttering to himself he darted out into the street, scooping up the cat he straightened looking towards the car that he assumed would slow down or at least move to miss him, and saw that the driver wasn't paying attention. Cringing he knew he was going to be hit the same time the driver looked up and he met the hard dark blue eyes of Mr. Sean Timpson.
The car skidded, and Ryan made a last ditch effort to get out of the way. But everything happened so fast that the last thing he remember was tossing the cat before red and white hot pain exploded in his body as everything went black.
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Sean Timpson explained to the officer that the stupid kid had run out into the street and there was nothing he could do. The cat that had been rescued was currently up a tree watching as they covered his now dead savior. Sean glanced back, seeing the paramedics cover the body, and giving a shudder he turned back to the officer. "Did you find a cat? It's what he was chasing."
"No, no cat." The officer said softly.
"Oh." Sean replied turning back to his car. The silver Viper was dented and smeared in blood. He could already see the cost of having the car fixed.
"Sir, your car is going to be impounded until we finish the investigation." The officer saw the man turn back to him.
"Of course, let me call my lawyer to come pick me up." Sean moved to step back up onto the sidewalk. Pulling out his cell phone, he thought about how unfair it was that his night was ruined because some idiot kid had to run in front of his car. What he didn't notice was that the cat that was up the tree was watching him and bristling. Nor did he know that his life was about to change.
The cat continued to watch, and saw the man that had killed the boy leave. He watched as the police had the car towed and the ME came and took the body away. Baring his teeth, he looked at the blood that covered the road. Letting his eyes scan the road, he saw that the area was finally empty, and jumping down, he darted back into the street and made sure to walk through the boy's blood.
Turning, the cat bolted into the dark night, running all the way back to the small white and blue clapboard house. Making his way to the back, he came in through the small animal door. He knew his mistress would be there somewhere, furthermore he knew she was going to be pissed.
"You're not tracking my nephew's blood all over my kitchen floor are you?" She raised an eyebrow, watching the cat as he came to sit in front of her. "Well Saso? What's wrong cat got your tongue?"
"That's not even funny," the cat said. "And I had to, to be able to have enough for you."
"He wouldn't be in this predicament if it wasn't for you." She moved back towards the kitchen. Saso followed his one blue and one yellow eye watching his mistress. "Well get up here, I don't have all night."
"I'm sorry," the cat started as he jumped up to the counter. "I never expected the bastard to hit him."
"The man wasn't ready to see his destiny, you shouldn't have pushed it," The witch glared at the cat as she moved to wipe blood from the animal's paws.
"Anca, I did what had to be done, nothing that I had seen showed me that the man would hit him," Saso started, "it showed him almost hitting him, and that after that they became close."
"Well maybe you miscalculated." Anca moved to start working on her spell that would save her nephew. She knew that she would be getting a visitor soon, but she needed to finish now she so would be ready to go when they got here. Finishing just as the doorbell rang, the woman went to it and took a deep breath.
"Yes?" She said as she opened the door to a uniformed policeman.
"Ms. Anca Ganns?" He asked, seeing her nod. "I'm Officer Baker, I'm sorry to inform you that your nephew Ryan Star was killed tonight."
Anca dropped her eyes, finding tears come to them. Even through she already knew she could feel the pain the Officer felt from having to tell her.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you are going to need to come to the hospital to identify the body." The Officer replied reaching out to touch her shoulder.
"Okay, let me get my purse." Anca moved back into the house. Bending to pick up her purse, she spoke quietly to the cat. "Clean up the mess."
Turning she followed after the officer.
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"Can I have a few minutes alone?" Anca asked softly, her voice quivered. She barely held her anger at what she saw. Her nephew's face and body were mangled. She watched as the ME nodded and the kind man slipped out the door. Turning back to Ryan's body, she set her purse onto his chest and opened it. "I can't believe I'm forced to do this in the morgue."
Setting to work she pulled out the mixture she made earlier, poured some onto her hands, and rubbed it into the boy's forehead. Returning to her bag, she pulled out a small clay figure.
"I am so pissed at the stupid cat, if he had left well enough alone," she muttered as she worked. Glancing at the door she made sure that no one was coming. "But no, he had to try and speed things up; I hope they tack another hundred years onto his sentence."
Dropping her voice she cast her spell, knowing that he couldn't stay in this form. The body was too damaged, too much of it injured to fix itself. Reducing the size of Orion's body would allow the spell to heal the body. It would also give her a reason to pay Mr. Timpson a visit.
Once the spell was done, there was a small flash of light, where her nephew once was now, laid a small wet newborn kitten. Quickly wrapping the kitten in a towel, she placed the clay figure on the table and with a tap it looked like Ryan's body. Picking up the kitten, she made her way out of the morgue.
Stopping to speak with the ME, she arranged for her nephew's body to be sent to a crematory. She knew that there wouldn't be any autopsy for the boy. Heading home, she thanked the police officer who had escorted her back to her house. Seeing that everything was cleaned up, she went about making arrangements for the boy's funeral.
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Growling at anyone he passed, Sean had wondered again why he even showed up for work. His car was totaled, so he had to drive the piece of shit rental. He had arrived at the office on the bright and sunny Tuesday only to find the office nearly empty. Slamming his office door, he crossed to his desk, dropping into his chair with a sigh.
After fifteen minutes he saw several people enter the office. Getting up, he walked over to his door, opened it and leaned against the door jamb as he waited for the rest of the people enter. He kept his eyes out for his assistant, pissed the boy hadn't come to work the day before. Seeing the woman that his assistant always hung around, he crossed the office to stop in front of her.
"Where the hell is the boy?" He demanded, nodding towards the desk when the woman's eyes widened.
"How could you…" The woman started, tears slipping down her face.
"Just tell me where my assistant is," Sean glared at her. "God, you act as if someone died."
"Sean." Turning Sean saw one of his partners. Raising an eyebrow as the man pulled him away, but he followed him into his office.
"What?" Sean hissed having tons to get done, and no assistant.
"Read this," Martin held out a newspaper to him.
"What?" Sean asked again as he took the newspaper the man was holding out. After scanning the page, he finally looked back at Martin. "Yeah, this is the kid I hit and killed what of it?"
"Read the name Sean," Martin shook his head.
"Ryan Star," Sean looked back up at the man. He wasn't sure what the hell Martin was getting at, but he was about fed up with it.
"Sean, Ryan Star was your assistant until you hit him Friday night." Martin watched as the man's face pale slightly. He knew that Sean was young, but the man had the feelings of a rock. He had really thought that Sean had paid better attention to the boy he had hired. He had done it for a friend, who had been friends with Ryan's parents before they were killed. The only opening had been the assistant for Sean.
"I didn't… I didn't recognize him," Sean closed his eyes, going over everything from that night.
"The boy had worked for you for the past three years," Martin said, heading towards the door. Sean watched him go before returning to his chair. Moving over the stuff on his desk, he wondered why he hadn't heard of the funeral for his assistant, and then realized that whoever would have called him would have gotten Ryan's phone.
Picking up his phone, he called the front receptionist asking her if she could get the messages off Ryan's phone, and find out if someone was going to clean out the boy's desk. As well as to see, if he needed to send flowers or anything to the boy's family.
"Thank you." Sean said; once he found that everything had been take care of. Setting the phone down, he moved to start working. He needed to take his mind off the boy's face, right before he had hit him. He wondered why he had never noticed how pretty Ryan was. He'd had him at the tip of his fingers for three years and he hadn't noticed.
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Ryan jerked awake, his body shaking as he squeezed his eyes shut tight. The last thing he remembered was the car that had barreled down on him. It must have been one hell of a dream, because it seemed so real that he could still feel pain in his left hip. Shifting he started to work his way out of his blankets, he hadn't realized how heavy they were. Finally getting out, Ryan stumbled to the floor.
Shaking his head, he looked up and he saw that everything seemed so big. He knew he was at his aunt's house, and with a frown he call out, however, the only thing that came out was a pitiful mewling noise. He moved to place his hand over his mouth only to see that instead of a hand he had a paw.
"Orion?" Anca said softly, coming into the room. Bending down, the woman picked up the small kitten and held him at face level. "Sweetie, I'm sorry, but I had to do this, it was the only way."
Mewling slightly, Ryan pushed forward to rub against his aunt. He found that he couldn't talk; the only way to communicate was hoping that Anca would understand his mewling. He held on with tiny nails as the woman carried him from the room. He was grateful when she placed him on the counter in front of a small bowl of water.
Drinking the water as best he could, Ryan went over everything he could remember. Now that he thought about it, the cat he had rescued did kind of look familiar. Pulling back and shaking his head, he glanced around until his gaze landed on Saso. Hissing slightly, he growled low in his throat.
"You're awfully small there kiddo, might want to wait until you grow up some." Saso moved slightly as Ryan took a step towards him. The small kitten wobbled on his legs, before sitting back down.
"Now Orion," Anca started softly, as she picked the kitten up again. "you are going to be slightly weak for a couple days, but you should be okay."
Ryan nodded and would have grinned if he had lips. Only Anca stilled called him Orion, which of course was his actual name. But he never told anyone that his real name was Orion, only Ryan. Nuzzling onto his aunt's shoulder he sighed in relief, he knew that she would fix this.
"Now for this to work, I need to get you to your new home," Anca saw Orion pulled away. While she couldn't read her nephew's mind, she could almost see the confusion in his eyes. But she didn't answer him; she knew that she could never explain it to him. Fate didn't work that way, no giving hints, and certainly no telling what had to be done. She couldn't bring herself to tell the boy that his life was now in the hands of the man that had killed him.
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Sean pulled open his door, the angry retort died on his lips as he spied the woman standing there. There was something disturbingly familiar about her. He couldn't seem to look away from the woman's brown eyes, there seemed to be something familiar about them.
"Sorry." Sean didn't move to let the woman in. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Anca Ganns, Ryan Star's aunt," she said watching the man's face pale. "May I come in?"
Sean couldn't find anything to say; because he wasn't sure how the woman had found out he was the one that had hit the boy. Moving to the side, he let the woman in and watched as she looked around his apartment, his jaw clinched so tight that his temple was starting to hurt.
"Ma'am?" He inquired, not sure how old the woman was. Anca Ganns didn't look much over twenty five, but if she was Ryan's aunt, she had to be somewhere around forty.
"I promised my baby sister I would take care of her boy," Anca turned to regard the tall, cold, man. She could see what Ryan had saw in him. Sean Timpson was handsome, but very, very cold. "and yet, Ryan didn't even make it to his twenty third birthday."
"I'm sorry," Sean tried to sound as sincere as possible. Only he could see that she wasn't buying it.
"Yes, I can see you are," Anca muttered shaking her head. Locking her pale brown eyes onto Sean she moved to pull out Orion. "This is Orion, he is… was Ryan's pet. He's yours now to take care of."
"Like hell lady." Sean hissed glaring at the small kitten that looked back at him. The eyes gave him pause; the sense that he had seen them somewhere before. He'd never seen a cat with that shade of honey brown before.
"You killed his owner; I can't take care of him. You made him an orphan, you're gonna take him." Anca said, her voice was soft but firm.
"I don't…" Sean started only to be cut off by the woman.
"How about I sue you for wrongful death? How about I go to the papers and tell them you hit your assistant, the one you had for three years, and didn't know he was your assistant?" Anca hissed, she was angry. This wasn't how Orion's life was to go.
"Listen lady, you don't scare me," Sean yelled, even though he was scared, terrified even. This woman could ruin him, and all over a stupid cat. Locking eyes with her, he stared at her for several long minutes. Seeing that the woman wasn't going to back down, he sighed again before shifting is attention back to the kitten. His company's future rested in the little paws of the golden haired cat.
"I really don't see you have any other choice." Anca stated, as she held out the kitten trying not to smile as Orion struggled. Her eyes widened slightly as Sean reached out to take the kitten, seeing that Orion could sit comfortably in one of the man's large hands.
Orion let out a dark mewl, startling the tall blue eyed man. He sat in his ex-boss' hands shaking, he wanted so much to curl back up into his aunt's arms. But the traitorous woman was going to leave him with the asshole that had killed him.
"He's afraid," Sean observed watching as the animal shook. Reaching up with his thumb, he only wanted to calm the animal down, but ended up getting bit for his effort. Clinching his teeth, he restrained himself from dropping the tiny animal. Bending he set the kitten down onto the floor, watching as little Orion looked up between him and the dead boy's aunt. "I have no idea how to take care of some animal."
"It's simple really, give him kitten food, water, lots of love and hugs, and you'll be fine." She said, watching Orion. While it looked like the kitten shook because he was scared, she knew that Orion was pissed. "Oh, and a litter box, which you must keep clean."
"Why can't you take him?" Sean couldn't pull his eyes from the animal.
"Because, I'm an old woman," Anca raised an eyebrow, seeing Sean look at her surprised. Smiling slightly she watched the man look over her again.
"I'm sorry," Sean said, wondering how he even thought that she looked young. Shaking his head, he dropped his eyes back to the kitten. He found it disturbing that the animal would stare at him like it understood them, it almost seem that there was some intelligence behind the animal's eyes. He looked up when he heard keys, and frowned at the set that the woman was holding out.
"Ryan's keys, his apartment needs to be packed and taken to storage," Anca rattled the keys again. She heard Orion's low angry mewl again.
"Shouldn't his friends do that?" Sean asked, his hand itching to take the keys. To learn about the boy that he had killed, the beauty that he hadn't seen, even though the boy worked for him.
"Well, since you have to go there for Orion's things, you might as well do it," Anca knelt down to gently touch her nephew's head. "Besides it would help this old woman out."
"All right," Sean said, watching as she stood up. He took the keys from her hand, and walked her to the door. Turning she held out a file folder to him.
"I will be keeping touch, just to make sure you are taking proper care of Orion." Anca said, before she disappeared out the door. He dropped his eyes to the animal as another mewl escaped the kitten. Reaching down, he wasn't all that surprised when he got bit again. He watched as the little animal scurried away from him, seeing Orion skid under the sofa.
Shaking his head he headed towards the bathroom. The woman had woken him up after a long night. Stripping down he turned on the shower before stepping in. he let his mind wonder of what had occurred last week, and now this week.
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Sean sat watching the sofa, every once in a while he could see golden fur as the kitten moved. Since he didn't have to be to work today, he had thrown on a long sleeve pullover and a pair of jeans. He figured he could go and clean out Ryan's apartment. Attached to the keys were the name of a storage unit and the key for it.
He saw honey brown eyes look at him, and he found himself almost lost in them. Walking over he dropped down seeing the kitten back up hissing at him slightly. "Come on, I don't want to leave you here. Want to come to Ryan's house with me?"
Orion stared at the man, what the hell did he mean going to Ryan's house? Slowly coming out from under the sofa he kept his eyes on Sean as he moved towards the kitchen. Moving to the table, Orion looked up wondering how he was going to get his keys. A yelp escaped him as he felt strong hands pick him up.
"Don't you dare bite me again," Sean said, as the kitten struggled in his hands. Grabbing up the keys, he swiped the folder off the counter and headed out the door. Getting into his car, he placed Orion gently onto the passenger seat before moving to look at the file. He was relieved to find an address for Ryan.
Orion stared at the man as he drove. He wanted to claw the prick's eyes out, wanted to make a bloody mess out of Sean's face. Of course, when you're nothing more then a two and half pound kitten, it kind of made it hard. He knew he hadn't been overly tall when he was alive, but at least he had thumbs. Now he couldn't even see out the car window. Trying to crawl up the door panel, Orion mewled as Sean pulled him back down.
"Don't do that, you'll end up hurting yourself," Sean placed the kitten back onto the seat. He glanced over to see the tiny face scowling at him. Laughing softly he turned back to the road, his mind going over the kitten's dead owner.
Pulling up to the building, he looked around at the quaint quiet area. Getting out he walked around to get Orion seeing the kitten was shaking in his seat. Cuddling the kitten close, he made his way towards the apartment. As he got closer to the apartment building the kitten shook harder.
Stopping in front of apartment 3B, Sean went to search for the apartment's key. He found one that was broken, and frowning he leaned to see the other half was broken off in the lock. With a sigh, he turned wondering where the super was. Finally finding the information he needed, he knocked on the correct door.
"What can I help you with?" A very old man asked.
"I need to get into Ryan Star's apartment, his aunt asked me to clean it out," Sean watched as the man itch his head as he looked at him.
"You Sean?" the old man asked. Nodding, Sean followed after him. It didn't take long; it seemed that the super knew what the problem was, and minutes later the door opened. Sean was taken by surprise as the kitten jumped down scrambling into the apartment. "Cute animal."
"He was Ryan's." Sean saw a frown crossed the old man's face. Shrugging, Sean entered the apartment, slowly closing the door behind him. Looking around the nicely decorated apartment, he saw boxes that were scattered around. He wondered if the boy had been planning on moving.
Moving to the kitchen, he decided to make coffee, figuring it couldn't hurt. Once that was done he sat down at the table to read through the note that Anca had left. It told him what exactly would need to be put into storage, what was staying, and what needed to be thrown.
After grabbing a cup of coffee, he wondered where his little companion went. Setting the cup on the counter, he went to search each room, stopping when the last room to check was the bedroom. He paused in the doorway, seeing the animal had pulled one blanket from the bed to curl up on.
Seeing that sight, Sean felt guilt and remorse kick him hard in the stomach. He had taken this little animal's owner away. Seeing something on the night stand, Sean crossed the room to pick up the small collar. It was impressive, for an animal's collar. Expensive too, and turning he knelt down to gently run his finger over Orion's head. Watching as the tiny head rose up.
"I think this is for you," Sean placed the collar around the kitten's neck. He grinned at the jewel that hung with the name tag, he wasn't sure what it was but it looked like it was a diamond. "Want to take the blanket with us Orion?"
Orion looked at the man. The collar rested comfortably against his neck he knew it was something his aunt had left because it had a protective air around it. Orion knew that it would protect him; he knew that as long as he was with Sean he would need protecting. Getting up he followed after his ex-boss, he saw that Sean had started to pack up his books and stuff.
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Sean shook his head, who knew someone could have so much junk? After the pot of coffee, he had raided the apartment's fridge. He found out that Ryan wasn't a drinker, or at least a drinker at home. There was not a drop of alcohol in the apartment. Shifting to pack away a bunch of magazines, he paused to flip through them. He stopped as he came across several gay magazines.
"I should have known," Sean stated watching the kitten. "Of course Ryan would be gay.
Orion just watched the man; he no longer cared what Sean thought of him. Hell, so what if the man had beautiful woman on his arm damn near every night, he had no right to look down at Ryan's preference. He could go to hell. Getting up Orion hissed low, and saw Sean look at him surprised again. He figured by now his hostility towards the man that had killed him wouldn't be a surprise.
Orion huffed, hissing and scratching at the hand that had tried to pet him. Dabbing at his bleeding hand, Sean watched as the kitten continued to angrily mewl at him. With a sigh he turned back to his packing, he wanted to be finished before dinner time. Later he walked to the phone, and was relieved to find it still worked. He called a moving company, and found that for a little extra money they would come out that day.
Sean held the kitten as two men carried things out. The only thing he had left to do was carry the one box of food upstairs to an elderly neighbor. Placing Orion on top of the box, he picked it up and carried it up to the top floor of the five story building. Knocking on the door, he was surprised when a young woman answered the door.
"Excuse me; I'm looking for Millie Barns." Sean raised an eyebrow, frowning as the woman smiled.
"Come in, please," she stepped back, still smiling. "I'm Anita Barns, I'll get my grandmother."
Sean nodded as he carried his box to the table. Setting the box down he picked up Orion, and saw the kitten was clinging to him. Maybe the animal was afraid that he would be left here. He watched as Anita came back, the woman's smile giving him the creeps.
"Oh what an adorable little thing," she cooed, reaching out to take the kitten from Sean. Sean raised his eyebrow as Orion hissed, spit and yowled at the woman. Pulling the kitten to his chest, he saw the woman scowling at him. "Nasty little bugger."
"You have no idea," Sean muttered as he stroked the soft back of the aggravated kitten. He was actually thrilled that Orion had had that reaction to the woman. He turned when the old woman came into the kitchen, and he smiled at her slightly.
"I'm Millie, and you are?" The old woman wheezed.
"Sean Timpson, I was Ryan Star's boss," Sean said softly. "His aunt asked that I bring these up to you."
Sean indicated the box he had brought up.
"Thank you," The old woman said she smiled as she reached out to pet Orion. It was a the tip of Sean's tongue that Orion didn't like people, but found the kitten tilting into the woman's hand as she pet him. "Such a sweet animal."
"Sometimes," Sean replied shrugging. "I should be getting back. They should be almost done with moving the boy's stuff."
"Well, it was nice meeting you," Millie moved back towards the living room. Sean turned, heading out of apartment. His eyebrow rose as Anita fell into step with him.
"Is there something I can do for you?" he wished she'd go away and stop smiling at him like that.
"Oh, when I was with Ryan last week, I left a couple things in his apartment," She shrugged, grinning up at the tall dark haired man. Sean raised and eyebrow, a smile almost finding his face as Orion started the low angry growl again.
"Oh? I didn't know he was dating anyone," Sean paused outside of the apartment to turn to her.
"We were very serious, I loved Ryan very much," Anita replied, jumping when the kitten tried to twist in Sean's hands, tiny clawed paw swiping towards her face. "Keep your fucking animal away from me."
"Not mine," Sean let his voice drop and turn cold. "Ryan's kitten, and if you were so close, why don't you know that?"
"Ryan didn't have a kitten," Anita stated glaring at them. Orion glared at the woman, the whore that wanted into his apartment. While his stuff wasn't all that expensive, he wasn't going to let the bitch pawn it.
"When's the last time you saw him?" Sean asked, glancing down at honey brown eyes that looked up at him.
"The morning he was killed." Anita grinned wickedly and Sean shook his head. It had been only a week, and this woman didn't seem all that upset that Ryan was gone.
"The kitten has been with Ryan for a while, I mean all the cat stuff in the apartment," Sean replied. "and why didn't his aunt contact you? I mean she brought me the kitten."
"I'm not an animal person, am I fluffy?" Anita reached out once again to pet the kitten only to snatch her hand back as Orion tried to bite her as he growled low in this throat.
"His name is Orion, and I really don't believe you were involved with Ryan." Sean went back into the apartment. He didn't care if he upset the woman, he didn't believe a thing she had said. Moving around the apartment, making sure that he had everything, he made sure that all of Orion's things were in box before nodding.
After locking the apartment, he left word with the super that the apartment was ready to be sub-let. Getting into his car, he drove to the storage building, where the truck was waiting. Leaving the kitten in the car, Sean helped them move the boy's stuff into it. He knew that the boy's family would sort it out later when the pain wasn't so fresh.
XXXXX
"You didn't tell him did you?" Saso let his eyes tracked his mistress as she crossed the room. When he received no answer, he moved to follow after to the observatory. "Anca?"
"Of course I didn't tell him," Anca closed her eyes as she dropped down into a chair.
"It would be better if he knew," Saso replied, he jumped into the chair opposite of her.
"It doesn't work that way Saso, I can't tell him." Anca sighed as she turned her attention to the window to look out over the front yard of her house. She didn't want to speak to Saso; the last thing she wanted to talk about was Orion, and what she had to do.
"Anca," Saso started but was cut off as the woman stood. He watched as she paced, could see the sadness in her eyes as she stopped to look at him. With another sigh she started to pace again, her face aggravated as her hands moved as if she was going to speak.
Anca took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. It was another few minutes before she allowed herself to speak. "What was I suppose to tell him?"
"Something, anything?" Saso let his tail wrap around his feet.
"I can't, it would forfeited Orion's soul." Anca's voice was low as she dropped back into the chair.
"Couldn't you have hinted something to Sean?" Saso licked one paw as he watched her.
"What was I suppose to say to the man? He didn't want to take the kitten to begin with; I had to threaten him to get him just to take him. Where in there was I suppose thrown in the fact that it was important that Sean saw the error of his ways, and Ryan was going to help him, all dressed up in a cute little kitten package." Anca glared at the cat.
Shaking her head, she leaned it back against the back of the chair. What else could she do, other then sit back and hope for the best.
"He would have thought I was off my rocker," Anca muttered. Getting up she headed into the kitchen, decided that she needed ice-cream.
"The fucker killed his soul mate; he should be made to suffer," Saso said, watching as the woman pulled out a tub of fudge caramel ice-cream.
"And Orion is stuck in the middle, because you screwed up," Anca pried the top off the ice-cream tub. Grabbing a spoon she stabbed it viciously into the ice-cream.
"I would take that back if I could." Saso watched with sad eyes, he watched his mistress, seeing that she was done talking, he slowly left the kitchen.