Spear Through Time

[Aiden Finnegan]

The engine went silent as Cooper turned the key with an audible sigh. His shoulders slumped slightly and he stared forward, his head not turning from the windshield. Aiden got out of the limo, completely ignoring Dimitri’s protests as Aiden opened the passenger side door and slid onto the leather seat – spear awkwardly thrust in between himself and Cooper.

“What do you know, Cooper? Are you Atharim?” Aiden asked at once. He didn’t seriously think that his driver would have been one of those snakes, but Nox had insisted they were everywhere. It could have been an off-handed comment, but Aiden had to be sure. What if the man was some sort of sleeper agent?

“Do you really want to do this right now, sir?” Cooper asked in an uncharacteristically crisp manner.

“So, you are!” Aiden exclaimed as he opened himself to the Light and let it flood his being. Filaments of fire began to snap into place around Aiden, ready for the command to consume Cooper.

Cooper’s head snapped to the right, his eyes locking onto Aiden’s own, “That’s not what I said and that is not what I was implying. Your breath reeks of Jack Daniels, you know that right?”

“Oh, don’t try to distract me with your witty sense of humor,” Aiden shot back, his eyes narrowing.

“You’re an alcoholic, Aiden,” Cooper said seriously, “And a fucking pothead.”

Aiden felt his torso pull away from Cooper instinctively, “Excuse me?”

“You’re a fucking addict, Aiden,” Cooper snapped back in the same tone, “That’s why I know what I know. You babble so much when you blackout – it’s a wonder the world doesn’t know about the Atharim and all those other details you think are known only to your kind.”

Aiden’s jaw dropped and the Light fled him with Cooper’s last syllable. The man was not wrong, of course, Aiden had always had an addictive personality. He used substances as a coping mechanism. It was just whiskey and weed – it was not as if he had been shooting up heroin or meth or whatever ghastly chemicals had made their way to the streets.

“I can’t tell you how many times I have cleaned your vomit and your piss out of the back seat. Look,” Cooper said with a sudden sigh, his eyes awkwardly darting away from Aiden’s shocked expression, “I didn’t mean to… You can kill with your mind, Aiden. I never meant to – I was nervous. You made me nervous, and I’ve been wanting to say something, but.”

Aiden let out his own sigh as he fumbled for his cigarettes. He had none, of course, the last one was burned away at sunrise, and he had not made Cooper stop for more before leaving the city. Aiden swore under his breath and his right leg began to bounce quickly. Movement. Some type of movement to help take the edge off and occupy his subconsciousness.

The limo grew extremely quiet and after a few moments Aiden guffawed at the absurdity of it all.

“I was seconds away from burning you to a cinder and you started a fucking intervention,” Aiden finally said with amused disbelief.

Cooper’s lip quirked and he nodded slightly to himself. After another long moment, he finally said, “That sounds about right. Funny. I never ever thought I’d the mature one in the room.”

“You’ve got two daughters, Cooper,” Aiden mumbled.

“Ah, my happy accidents,” Cooper said with an air of pride.

Aiden laughed again, the tension completely drained from the automobile. Dimitri knocked at the passenger side window and Aiden's laughter quickly turned to a good-natured groan.

"Why were you talking about Ganymede with Dimitri, Coop?" Aiden asked before he unlocked the car door.

Cooper considered Aiden for another long moment before saying, "I think he's like you, boss. Right now, though? He's just another Demi-God."